I’ve been seeing some interesting discussions around lately about realism in fiction — to wit, that positive portrayals of various human experiences and relationships were “unrealistic” and ought to be confined to the lowest forms of genre fiction.
Really? Is that what we really believe as a society?
In real life, all parents are evil, all relationships are dysfunctional, all faith is delusion and all trust is misplaced. All heroes are liars. All leaders are thieves. All love is codependent. All sex is hurtful. All beauty is illusion.
I feel very, very sorry for anyone whose life is so sad that this is their reality. It’s not my reality. I utterly and totally reject the idea that fiction must be dark and depressing to be realistic.
I have met many heroes, people who in real life do their absolute best to guard others, to make good decisions for the benefit of society, to be responsible for the world around them. Hero stories are not unrealistic. On the contrary, they are far more grounded in real-life experience to me than fatalistic gloom.
Of course there are people who are only motivated by self interest. There are liars and thieves and abusers and murderers. But I question whether or not we give them too much power in our society when we make them the standard by which everyone is measured, when we say that they are “normal” and people who are decent and selfless are the rare exception.
This is something I address in all of my writing. For example, there is the very pervasive argument that any positive portrayal of Alexander or his Companions is defacto pure romanticism — despite the fact that some of the incidents that show him in a positive light are as well documented as anything we know from that era. He spared the family of his enemy Darius and treated them well, rather than killing them as was customary with such prisoners in war. We know this as well as we know anything about him. And yet modern writers and historians feel that they must somehow “debunk” any positive portrayal as unrealistic. Because real leaders don’t behave that way.
Right. Real leaders just kill POWs. Real leaders would never hesitate to murder children.
It says a terribly sad thing about our society, not about Alexander’s, that we accept that argument so easily.
about the author
Featured Orbit titles by Jo Graham
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Stealing Fire
The author of Hand of Isis returns with this beautifully-depicted story of Alexander the Great and the legacy that he left behind.
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Hand of Isis
In this awe-inspiring story, Cleopatra's childhood is told through the eyes of its remarkable protagonist—her half-sister, Charmian.
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Black Ships
In a time of war and doubt, Gull is an oracle. Daughter of a slave taken from fallen Troy, chosen at the age of seven to be the voice of the Lady of the Dead, she is destined to counsel kings.
Athena Andreadis
May 31, 2010
at 9:26 am
Dear Jo, I haven’t yet read your latest but I very much liked Black Ships. It felt right in tone, a rare feat in such books. As a Hellene transplanted to an Anglosaxon context, I’m painfully aware of the distortions visited upon the myths and history of my culture. As for the angst and malaise that has been considered chic in SF/F for the last decade or so, it mirrors the Zeitgeist — but even then, only if you’re emotionally adolescent and your response to the frustrations of adult life is to sulk.
My romantic take on Alexander:
Iskander, Khan Tengri
http://www.starshipreckless.com/blog/?p=43
On the dearth of real knowledge about Hellenic culture:
Being Part of Everyone’s Furniture; Or: Appropriate Away!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/athena-andreadis-phd/being-part-of-everyones-f_b_501852.html
Optimism and otherwise in SF/F:
Review of Jetse de Vries’ Shine anthology
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2010/04/guest-review-athena-andreadis-reviews-shine-an-anthology-of-near-future-optimistic-science-fiction-edited-by-jetse-de-vries/
Jetse
June 4, 2010
at 8:01 pm
“I utterly and totally reject the idea that fiction must be dark and depressing to be realistic.”
Amen to that, and I’ll add Ernst Fehr:
“He conjectures that we could call economics “the dismal science” because it consistently assumes the worst in human motives, which contrasts sharply with the pervasive idea that consumer tastes are heterogeneous.”
Yes, even some economists are taken altruism into account, as it increases the realism of their approach.