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<blockquote data-quote="kenjib" data-source="post: 344795" data-attributes="member: 530">Actually, Narnia was on my mind as well.&nbsp; The concept of leaving the familiar and entering the unknown is central in Narnia -- especially in the&nbsp; narrative structure of the characters leaving the real world and entering the fantasy world.&nbsp; It's the same literary effect you get with Tolkein's shire and in Harry Potter with the Muggles as well.&nbsp; It's all over the place in fantasy -- even in scifi with Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and the like.&nbsp; In part they are a way for the reader to better empathize with the protagonists by making them similar to the reader.&nbsp; I think it helps the reader to fully connect with the sense of wonder invoked by a strange world when the book starts out in a relatively ordinary place.&nbsp; I think that's key to the fantasy experience.&nbsp; It allows the reader to attain a transcendental experience.&nbsp; Those kinds of &quot;familiar&quot; bookends that Narnia and Middle-Earth have really serve to heighten that effect.I find that if everything is fantastic, then nothing really is.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kenjib, post: 344795, member: 530"] Actually, Narnia was on my mind as well. The concept of leaving the familiar and entering the unknown is central in Narnia -- especially in the narrative structure of the characters leaving the real world and entering the fantasy world. It's the same literary effect you get with Tolkein's shire and in Harry Potter with the Muggles as well. It's all over the place in fantasy -- even in scifi with Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and the like. In part they are a way for the reader to better empathize with the protagonists by making them similar to the reader. I think it helps the reader to fully connect with the sense of wonder invoked by a strange world when the book starts out in a relatively ordinary place. I think that's key to the fantasy experience. It allows the reader to attain a transcendental experience. Those kinds of "familiar" bookends that Narnia and Middle-Earth have really serve to heighten that effect. I find that if everything is fantastic, then nothing really is. [/QUOTE]

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