Our Plain Duty to Escape
A reader called Robin as us to consider this Ursula K. Leguin quote:
Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape? … if we value the freedom of the mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can.
Right. This is why we, at New Escapologist, have come to separate “escapism” and “Escapology”:
It’s Escapology, not escapism. Escapism is when you briefly leave your cares behind by watching a film or building model aeroplanes. Escapology is a permanent effort to leave work and consumerism behind. It’s the art and science of politely saying “no thank you,” and walking away into a self-made alternative.
We’re not the only one to make the distinction. Escape, Escapism, Escapology by John Limon is a recent book that does the same. We reviewed it in Issue 14.
Without the opening note about fantasy being escapist, I agree with Ursula K. Leguin’s point. It is “our plain duty to escape” when cornered. We owe it to ourselves and to the principle of the thing. We owe it to others by way of example. When all life on Earth is extinguished and there’s a final accounting of things, it would be nice if it could be said (though by whom?) “they lived free.” I mean, that won’t happen now, it’s too late in the day, but one must try. One’s bean must be counted in the right column.
A related point that rolls around in my head is that while fantasy is said to be escapist (though of all the writers to say this, Le Guin’s work bulges with allegory and polemic) it isn’t unreal. A fictional character or world might not occupy the same plain of reality as we do, but when we’re reading, we’re reading. Reading is a real event, happening materially in the material world. So if fantasy is not unreal, can it really be said to be escapist? One doesn’t escape reality into the same reality, does one? Just a thought.
I think I prefer this Ursula quote, where she begins to separate escapism from Escapology:
As for the charge of escapism, what does “escape” mean? Escape from real life, responsibility, order, duty, piety, is what the charge implies. But nobody, except the most criminally irresponsible or pitifully incompetent, escapes to jail. The direction of escape is toward freedom. So what is “escapism” an accusation of?
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About Robert Wringham
Robert Wringham is the editor of New Escapologist. He also writes books and articles. Read more at wringham.co.uk