Friday, June 06, 2014

Fairy tales and science …

… The End Of The Pier Show: Richard Dawkins Is At It Again. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A scientific hypothesis is an exercise in world-creation - a world in which an investigation might have consequences which can at that stage only be imagined. Conceptually, this is no different from imagining a world in which dragons lurk; in which animals talk; and indeed in which talking wolves dress up as nice little old ladies. Crucially - and I think this is what might worry Professor Dawkins - one never confuses the world of the fairy story with reality. As J. R. R. Tolkien made clear in his essay On Fairy Stories, the efficacy of a fairy tale (or indeed any work of fiction) lies in its capacity to make you suspend disbelief, but only while you are reading the story.

1 comment:

  1. Dear Frank,

    Will you please consider reviewing my new novel DON’T FORGET ME, BRO, to be published later this year by Stephen F. Austin State University Press?

    DON’T FORGET ME, BRO deals with themes of childhood abuse, mental illness, and alienated families. (See synopsis below.)

    My award-winning debut novel THE NIGHT I FREED JOHN BROWN (Philomel Books, Penguin Group, 2009) won The Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers (Grades 7-12) and was one of ten books recommended by USA TODAY. For more info: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-michael-cummings/the-night-i-freed-john-brown/

    In addition I've published a collection of short stories, UGLY TO START WITH (West Virginia University Press) Here’s a link to some information about my collection: http://www.amazon.com/Ugly-Start-With-Michael-Cummings/dp/193597808X

    My short stories have appeared in more than seventy-five literary journals, including The Iowa Review, North American Review, The Kenyon Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and The Chattahoochee Review. Twice I have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. My short story "The Scratchboard Project" received an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007.

    I look forward to hearing back from you.

    My email is johnmcummings@aol.com.

    Thank you very much.

    Kindly,

    John Michael Cummings

    P.S. Could you kindly give me a reply back to let me know you received this email?

    Synopsis of DON’T FORGET ME, BRO

    DON’T FORGET ME, BRO deals with themes of childhood abuse, mental illness, and alienated families. The book opens with the main character, forty-two-year-old Mark Barr, who has returned home from New York to West Virginia after eleven years for his older brother Steve’s funeral. Steve, having died of a heart attack at forty-five, was mentally ill most of his adult life, though Mark has always questioned what was "mentally ill" and what was the result of their father’s verbal and physical abuse during their childhood.

    The book unfolds into an odyssey for Mark to discover love for his brother posthumously in a loveless family.

    DON’T FORGET ME, BRO is a portrait of an oldest brother’s supposed mental illness and unfulfilled life, as well as a redeeming tale of a youngest brother’s alienation from his family and his guilt for abandoning them.

    - end -




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