I loved Audrey Niffenegger's novel The Time Traveler's Wife, and Kelly Link's story collection Magic for Beginners. So it was a pleasure to come across Niffenegger's review of Magic for Beginners in the UK's Guardian newspaper this past weekend. She begins:
" I don't know about you, but I'm kind of fed up with realism. After all, there's enough reality already; why make more of it? Why not leave realism for the memoirs of drug addicts, the histories of salt, the biographies of porn stars? Why must we continue to read about the travails of divorced people or mildly depressed Canadians when we could be contemplating the shopping habits of zombies, or the difficulties that ensue when living and dead people marry each other? We should be demanding more stories about faery handbags and pyjamas inscribed with the diaries of strange women. We should not rest until someone writes about a television show that features the Free People's World-Tree Library, with its elaborate waterfalls and Forbidden Books and Pirate-Magicians. We should be pining for a house haunted by rabbits."
Agreed!
The pictures here are by the divine Julie Morstad. You can see more of her work on her website.
Loved TTW as well and look forward to popping over and reading this review! I've heard great things about Kelly Link.
Posted by: Carl V. | March 06, 2007 at 03:59 PM
Stunning post!!!
Posted by: Gypsy Purple-Chamara | March 06, 2007 at 09:09 PM
I hate this kind of opposition, because I like both. I'm interested in memoirs of drug addicts and histories of salt because they tend to be full of extravagantly fantastic things I never dreamed of. And I'm interested in fairy tales and epic fantasies because they tell me ground-level truths about my life.
Posted by: Patrick Nielsen Hayden | March 08, 2007 at 08:06 AM
Although I am also interested in the personal histories of drug addicts, etc., my favorite argument in defense of Fancy comes from Oscar Wilde's scathingly funny essay, "The Decay of Lying":
Facts are not merely finding a footing-place in history, but they are usurping the domain of Fancy, and have invaded the kingdom of Romance....That some change will take place before this century has drawn to its close we have no doubt whatsoever. Bored by the tedious and improving conversation of those who have neither the wit to exaggerate nor the genius to romance, tired of the intelligent person whose reminiscences are always based upon memory, whose statements are invariably limited by probability, and who is at any time liable to be corroborated by the merest Philistine who happens to be present, Society sooner or later must return to its lost leader, the cultured and fascinating liar.
Posted by: chandracerchionepeltier | March 08, 2007 at 02:43 PM
spot on!
Posted by: juju | March 09, 2007 at 11:25 AM
Julie's artwork reminds me of my friend Melissa's, in its delicate, fey lines & use of animal avatars. Here's a sweet cabinet I'm keeping for her while she's traveling: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/aspyre/Picture013.jpg
Posted by: Andrea | March 11, 2007 at 02:28 PM