Fantasy Elements #1: 'True' Language

It's been a while since I posted articles in the Story Elements and Fantasy Elements series, but I thought it was high time to dredge them up again and continue :) So today, the whole concept of true names and language.

There's a lot of emphasis in the fantasy genre as a whole on words and language. You have magic systems based on words, you have made-up languages that embody the culture of the people who speak them - and you have names. Often, you have True Names, which are different from ordinary, everyday names because they have Power. The name of the thing is the essence of the thing, and to call something by its essence is to have absolute power over it.

I was thinking about this the other day, prompted by an old post over on A Nudge In The Right Direction. I have a major in linguistics from university, so have a bit of experience with languages and language and the concepts thereof.

Throughout history there have been many theories of art: art imitates nature, nature imitates art, art should imitate (or at least represent) nature, art is art for art's sake. In the late eighteen hundreds the work of a Swiss linguist called Ferdinand de Saussure changed the way many people thought about the interplay between art and nature, and linguists worldwide began to question and explore the idea of the word as representative of reality.

For centuries it had been assumed that language was in some way mimetic or representative of reality - the term 'dog' was fundamentally doggy, 'tree' was fundamentally treey, etc. But Saussure said that there could be no relationship between a word and reality apart from arbitrariness, principally because if there was some sort of mimetic connection, then all languages would have similar sounding words for similar concepts - and they don't.

There's a lot more to his theory, of course, but I'm trying to keep this non-technical. If you're interested, I'd be happy to expound; it's relevant to the fantasy genre generally and to anywhere you're using made-up words specifically. But for now, assuming that Saussure is correct and that there are no necessary connections between things and the sounds we use to represent them, let's examine some of the issues this raises for the 'true language' idea.

To say there is one 'true' language necessarily disparages all other languages. All other languages are not true, which is to say they are lies...

And who's to say which is the true language? Different ethnic and/or religious groups might reasonably claim that they alone have the true language, and that all other languages are impure, and the people who speak them unclean or infidels. Which leads to language stagnation, where languages refuse to invent or borrow new words for new concepts because that would mean corrupting the language - and this of course leads to societal stagnation, for a language that allows no new concepts will not support a changing society...

And yet despite all this, fantasy still insists on a true language. The world called into existence by a single word or phrase, the breath of some Creator, a sound that resonates throughout all creation and lends it Power, names that have the power to bind a person and their soul, to call up the dead, the capture immorals and trap them to one's will...

Where does our fascination with this come from? And why is it that characters are so much easier to write once we've named them, and so impossible to write when they have the wrong name? Are the two connected? How? Why? What is it we're seeking when we long for a language that is true, and pure, and power?

Fantasy Elements: Introduction

Many months ago (May, in fact), Merc posted an article titled Throwing Down the Gauntlet. I read it, and immediately knew I needed to respond to it - but it's taken me this long to figure out how.

See, Merc's challenge was to explain why you like the genres that you like. It's so easy to get caught up with what you don't like about a genre - and it's much easier, too. I can list a squillion things I don't like about fantasy off the top of my head. It's taken me three months to find a satisfactory answer to why I do like it.

And of course, I figured it out when I was penless, and the words were Perfect and Right. And now that I come to write this, I can't remember them. I hope you'll forgive any awkward moments :)

Fantasy.

It's quite a controversial word, really. People tend to either love it or hate it, and it's part of that oft-scorned cluster known as 'genre fiction'. As in, 'not literary fiction'. As in, 'not real fiction' - not real writing.

We who live in these Other Worlds, of course, know better - but how do we convince the masses that fantasy is not 'just escapism', it's not unreality, it's real, and it's concrete, and it's meaningful?*

This was a discussion I had on Friday night with my husband. He's extremely supportive of my writing, but like so many people I know exists in a state of puzzled bemusement regarding the fantasy aspect.

I hit on it during the discussion though, and I've mentioned it above. Look hard.

Did you find it?

It's one little word: concrete.

Fantasy takes all our fears, our desires, our hopes and dreams - and it makes them real. Concrete.

You're terrified of the dark? In Fantasyland, it can kill you.

You long more than anything to be known as a brave hero? In Fantasyland, you have dragons to kill, maidens to rescue, and evil to overthrow.

There's another key concept: evil.

Most of you who know me well will know I'm religious; those of you that don't, well, now you know too :) As a part of that, I believe whole-heartedly in the battle between good and evil - and nowhere can it be more concretely demonstrated that in fantasy.

In 'real life', evil is (given a majority consensus) murder, rape, abuse, corporate greed and so forth. In fantasy, it can be those things too - but the stakes are higher.

A man murders others in order to preserve his own life? How about a man murders others, rips his soul apart and stashes it around the world to preserve his own life...

A person manipulates others to get what they want? How about a person takes control of other people, leaving them with no will, no thoughts of their own - or at least no way to utilise them...

You see, in fantasy, you have magic. And magic is power. And power means that the stakes are much, much higher.

Because with greater power comes greater responsibility.

In this world, we can fight evil. In fantasy, we Fight it.

As Holly Lisle puts it, we're designed to fight monsters. Our subconscious knows it. And if we don't give it big monsters to fight, it will make big monsters out of little ones.

Fantasy reminds us that there are big monsters, that our little ones here at home really are little in the context of the world, and that there are bigger things, more important things to fight for.

And that is why I like fantasy.

*Assuming, naturally, that we're talking about good fantasy here; no genre, literary and commercial included, are exempt from their share of trashy pink books (the term 'pink' is thieved from my Twin of Darkness and Good, Liana Brooks).

Revenge of the Common Folk

You may have noticed that I've tidied up the sidebar somewhat. I'm very happy about this :)

I've also increased (significantly) the number of blogs I've linked to. At this point, I haven't had a chance to read many of these blogs, so I can't vouch for their content. But I plan to go through them all as soon and as quickly as I can, and I think from the little reading I have done so far, I'll have lots of interesting food for thought.

In an interesting twist, someone somewhere said relatively recently (how's that for specific) that with the internet, this age has become the revenge of the common folk. Throughout history we see the stories of those in power told to the exclusion of those you aren't. But now, we have our revenge %-)

So expect more articles from me in the coming months as I wade through my links and respond :)