Today's ponderable

[swan_tower]

I'd like to talk about portal fantasies. Or rather, I'd like you to talk about them.

By that term, I mean the stories where people from this world go into another, more fantastical world. Narnia, for example. Once upon a time, these seem to have been more popular; now, not so much. And if I had to guess, I'd say that's at least in part because of the way a lot of them were transparent wish-fulfillment: Protagonist (who is an emotional stand-in for the author, though only in egregious cases a Mary Sue) goes to Magical Land where things are more colorful and interesting than in the real world. And maybe they stay there, maybe they don't.

Talk to me about the portal fantasies you've read. Which ones stick in your mind? What was your response to them, both as a kid and now? Which ones did the wish-fulfillment thing extra transparently, and how so?

(Yes, I actually have a special interest in the bad examples of this genre. In fact, if you approach this entire question as an academic curiosity of the structural sort paired with a authorly eye toward writing a deconstruction -- not a parody -- of the tropes, you'll be on the right track.)

Portal fantasies. Talk to me about 'em. Good, bad, ugly, laughably naive. What's your take?

Comments

[kleenestar.livejournal.com]

Read recently (in the last few years):

Mirror of her Dreams series by Donaldson - less eye-pokey than Covenant by a long shot, and actually does some deconstructing of its own so it might be useful to you. Very "So, we called for a hero from another world and we got ... you???"

The Magicians by Lev Grossman - I don't think it's out yet but I have an ARC I can send you if you need it. (Once it comes out, I think portal fantasy is about to hit the mainstream again in a big way.) The premise is basically, "What if some really awful, shitty people were the ones who got to do the portal fantasy?" Though what squicked me is that the author doesn't seem to realize that his characters are generally terrible human beings.

War of the Flowers by Tad Williams - Of the "Whoa, I'm a lame slacker dude in the real world, but my guitar playing / artistic dreams / misogyny make me AWESOME IN FANTASY LAND" sub-genre, but redeemed by a completely awesome take on the Other World (and by Williams' general awesomeness - the genre lameness really isn't his fault).

Wonderful portal stuff in His Dark Materials, but you can't really go wrong with Pullman as far as I'm concerned so I might be biased. :)

And of course there's the de Lint-influenced crowd (UnLunDun, Neverwhere) which mostly appeal to me because of how they reimagine our mundane world as a magical place.

Obsessed with as a kid:

Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony - A guy from a sci-fi culture ends up in a fantasy world where magic works, and ends up traveling back and forth often enough to earn himself some serious frequent flier miles.

(Plus some of the other stuff people have already mentioned - like Narnia which I freaking LOVED. I spent a lot of time rummaging in other people's closets, just in case.)

If you're really looking for bad portal stuff, you might want to check out the romance aisle. I couldn't name names, because I mostly skim them in the bookstore, but there's definitely a fair few that do the "I'm in a magic land and EVERYONE LOVES ME" thing. Or also the past.

Also:

You should email Ben Lehman about Land of a Thousand Kings, as I think he did fairly extensive research into this genre when he wrote the game.

I know there are more, but I'll post as I think of them.