The Roots of Romance

What we wish for, long for, hope for

Troubling Times

We are entering, we of the ‘developed’ world, times of great change and travail. The bases of our civilization are about to ebb away, and though we have known this would happen for many decades, we have allowed our leaders to deceive us in false hopes that things could just go on and on and on.

Change, as Eric Hoffer remarked in The Ordeal of Change, is frightening. It provokes anxiety in our hearts. We fret and worry. Change always involves X the Unknown, and by definition we cannot know how well we will fare under Unknown circumstances.

What can help us to endure the Change?

Fantasy and Romance.

Escape to the Future

Against Romance & Fantasy the charge of ‘escapism’ is often brought. ‘Escapism’ is a flight into wishing in place of dealing with any unpleasant reality. But in that wishing-place we can deal with the unpleasant reality in less-anxious, symbolic terms. When we gain some relief from the anxieties that plague us, we find we can deal with practical solutions, we can better bear our troubles.

Throughout history, the poor and downtrodden have always preferred happy ‘escapist’ tales. But in the wealthy, easeful classes, we find a preference for tragedy and misery and gloom.

I think this is no accident.

When great Times of Change arrive, we all join the ranks of the poor and downtrodden. We all need the hope that Romance can bring.

Different Paths

There are different ways that Fantasy deals with troubles and the anxieties of the unknown.

One way is through fear. Horror and terror tales inspire in us such deep and primal fright, that when we return to our reality, we find nothing there to cause such tremors. It all looks easier then. There is also a biochemical basis to this, I imagine: whatever chemical pathways are invoked in feeling fear, their sources are temporarily spent in the aftermath of experiencing a great terror such as we find in a Romance of Fear.

Another way is through rage. Tales of vengeance, of a dark, unkillable hero who slaughters and slays all those who threaten him, satisfies our anger at those we would blame for having put us into whatever dire straits that Change has brought.

A third way is through magical solutions. These tales offer us the problem solved, and some gift or discovery effortlessly sets us free of all that worry us. This is a sort of short-cut to hope. (I must add that science-fantasy tales belong to this class; the difference lies simply in whether the talesman hopes to persuade his audience, or himself, that the talismans that solve the problems are to be realistically attended.)

And then there is the way through hope. In such tales a hero arises who shall lead us through the troubled times to the paradise beyond. A small part of these tales detail religious faiths new and old.

It is typical of these tales that the beginning acknowledges the current trials, only to find some way through them. The tales of Fear show us what is the worst that can happen — far, far worse than anything we might realistically expect. Tales of Rage show us how a hero lays waste to the troubles and their presumed human agents directly — no real solution is offered, but there is satisfaction in lashing out, which is what these Tales of Rage amount to. Tales of Magical Solutions are what the child within us longs for, and tend to stress the happy results of the magic in creating new societies, families, and personal results. Tales of Hope deal more in social responses to the troubles, and might assume the most ‘realistic’ dress over the underlying wish-fulfillments.

Hope for Romance, seek it out. For the talesmen who would create the Fantasies we will need, the technique is simply to immerse yourself in the worst news, the worst fears, until the pressure you feel in your heart seeks its natural outlet; this outlet will be the fulfillment of your own wish to free yourself of your anxieties, and it must correspond to the wishes of others beside yourself.

(Composed on keyboard Friday, May 23, 2008)