> Robert Suggs wrote:
> > Council for the Literature of the Fantastic
> > http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/welcome.html
> >
> > Can't vouch for it, only found it. Seems to be a mix of profs and grad
> > students at places like U of Rhode Island (in Lovecraft's hometown,
> > where there usually seems to be some activity in studying this kind of
> > thing); and writers of fantasy and science fiction. There are some
> > contacts, and someone will surely point you in the right direction.
I like egghead commentary. That's not a confession, and I doubt it's news to anyone. I get a kick out of people who think too much. They could be onto something, or they could be simply insane, but at least they're paying attention.
The more levels upon which a genre can be enjoyed, the better, in my opinion. I don't have to tell you it's a major reason why supernatural fiction is so attractive in the first place. One would be hard put to find a more variegated repository in literature; the closest thing would be science-fiction, but sf must hold at the Possible, and the uplands of Dream have no such boundaries.
Any field so wide will have plenty of opportunities for in-depth discussion; this is the portal through which the eggheads arrive, their antennae pulsing with concern for the issues that engendered the work being examined, providing illumination of the more subtle avenues of its intent in order that we might appreciate and enjoy it more. This is why I like them, knowing full well that some of them are quite mad. I imagine the authors of the works themselves are grateful for them too, even when they end up cowering in corners that were never intended for painting.
So it was with particular interest that I perused the Title Index to the *Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts* advertised at the link Rob found. Has anyone seen a copy? This looks to be a likely forum for the kind of thing described.
There is a perverse game I play in my more sardonic moments which I call 'judging a book by its cover.' Shouldn't be done, I know. It's not fair to the contents. You folks in the book trade know all about this, I imagine. But there's another homily that goes, 'if it looks/swims/quacks like a duck, etc.', and it's sometimes entertaining to try and guess to what extent this is true.
Few things are more reprehensible than expounding at length on something about which one knows nothing, but I've been called worse. With this jaundiced eye, what does one see when one looks at the Title Index to this journal?
I found myself breaking the various articles up into categories of possible priority, as I suppose anyone would. Reading time is precious. Critical writing is so infected with buzzwords that it's sometimes impossible to tell whether 'The Artifact as Icon in Science Fiction' is going to be better, worse, or indifferently relative to 'Deconstructing Deconstruction: Chimeras of Form and Content in Samuel R. Delany.' Maybe it's an in-joke among the writers who must know the article will at least be looked at by anyone who chances to be interested in the topic, but the nagging conviction remains that the language of these titles is patently crippled by over-intellectualism. Being disallowed the use of words like 'taxonomy,' 'existential,' 'tropes,' 'decentering,' 'post-' most things, and 'meta'- anything would send these title-composers into a tailspin; if they were forbidden to use the word 'as,' they would *really* be screwed.
But some of these articles must be worth reading ! It wouldn't be germaine to note the authors in this context-- reviewing only the titles of meta-criticism is about as 'meta' as I care to go-- here's how I graded a few of them, using the 'cover judging' method:
Could Be/Might Be Interesting Dept.De Elixere des Teufels: E.T.A. Hoffmann's House of Mirrors
The Disappointed Bridge: Textual Hauntings in Joyce's ULYSSES
Frankenstein Revisited: Doris Lessing's THE FIFTH CHILD
Worth a Look Just To See Where It Goes Dept.
Review Essay: Snobbery, Seasoned With Bile, Clute Is
Desacralization of Image and Confusion of Sexuality in the Disney Studio's 'Beauty and the Beast' (!)
From Golem to Plastisex: An Analytical Survey of Spanish-American Fantastic Literature
'Life Is A Hideous Thing:' Primate-Geniture in H.P. Lovecraft's 'Arthur Jermyn'
Probably Too Much Information Dept.
The Fairies' Christmas: Elements of the Fantastic in Irish Political Cartoons of the Home Rule Movement
Men In Love: The Fantasizing of Bram Stoker and Edvard Munch
'Plots Within Plots...Patterns Within Patterns:' Chaos-Theory Concepts and Structures in Frank Herbert's Dune Novels
Mountains Out Of Molehills Dept.
On Visual Tropes As Expressions of the Psyche in Roman Polanski's 'The Tenant' (ed. note: I LOVE this movie, too)
Rhetoric and Death in 'Thelma and Louise:' Notes Toward a Logic of the Fantastic
Courteous, Humble, and Helpful: Sam as Squire Figure in THE LORD OF THE RINGS
Are You Sure ? Dept.
Dualism and Mirror Imagery in Anglo-Saxon Riddles
Shapeshifters and Skinwalkers: The Writer's Curse of Negative Capability
The Craving For Meaning: Explicit Allegory in the Non-Implicit Age
Wha--? Dept.
The Decentered Absolute: Significance in the Postmodern Fantastic
Metafiction in the Comics: 'The Sensational She-Hulk'
Did You Know That Paul McCartney Had a Band Before 'Wings'?
Heh. They can't all be gems. Hopefully someone will let me know whether it's safe to proceed here. Or maybe I should just talk my library into ordering the Journal so I can read it for free.
rbadac