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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 2268022" data-attributes="member: 463">But what I was responding to was your statement &quot;Fantasy is the genera of fiction which primarily seeks to address the question of, 'What is the meaning of good and evil?', and similar abstract moral questions by incarnating or extantiating the abstract principals as tangible things, and then producing from there a narrative structure which serves to illustrate the principal in question. A fantasy is at its heart a morality tell which serves to warn against or promote certain sorts of behavior&quot; - you're now stretching it to include any tale with an heroic protagonist!&nbsp; Including myths like the Odyssey, apparently.&nbsp; The idea that Conan or Fafhrd/Mouser are 'morality tales' in any sense, even a &quot;non Judaeo-Christian&quot; sense, seems ridiculous to me.&nbsp; This kind of swords &amp; sorcery fiction takes a highly modernist approach which deliberately eschews the very things you claim to be characteristic of fantasy.Now, like I said, your definition somewhat fits a wide range of high fantasy, not just &quot;Christian fantasy&quot; like Tolkien &amp; Lewis - I would say Moorcock's humanist swords &amp; sorcery fits it pretty well, for instance.&nbsp; But stories of amoral heroes battling other amoral characters or evil wizards has IMO almost nothing to do with &quot;'What is the meaning of good and evil?', and similar abstract moral questions by incarnating or extantiating the abstract principals as tangible things, and then producing from there a narrative structure which serves to illustrate the principal in question&quot;.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 2268022, member: 463"] But what I was responding to was your statement "Fantasy is the genera of fiction which primarily seeks to address the question of, 'What is the meaning of good and evil?', and similar abstract moral questions by incarnating or extantiating the abstract principals as tangible things, and then producing from there a narrative structure which serves to illustrate the principal in question. A fantasy is at its heart a morality tell which serves to warn against or promote certain sorts of behavior" - you're now stretching it to include any tale with an heroic protagonist! Including myths like the Odyssey, apparently. The idea that Conan or Fafhrd/Mouser are 'morality tales' in any sense, even a "non Judaeo-Christian" sense, seems ridiculous to me. This kind of swords & sorcery fiction takes a highly modernist approach which deliberately eschews the very things you claim to be characteristic of fantasy. Now, like I said, your definition somewhat fits a wide range of high fantasy, not just "Christian fantasy" like Tolkien & Lewis - I would say Moorcock's humanist swords & sorcery fits it pretty well, for instance. But stories of amoral heroes battling other amoral characters or evil wizards has IMO almost nothing to do with "'What is the meaning of good and evil?', and similar abstract moral questions by incarnating or extantiating the abstract principals as tangible things, and then producing from there a narrative structure which serves to illustrate the principal in question". [/QUOTE]

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