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Fantasy: The Interior Universe by Ruth Nichols We are here today to talk about fantasy. The story I am about to tell you does not ostensibly have anything to do with it at all, but please listen and consider. In the Middle East they tell many stories about the Wise Fool Mulla Nasrudin. Among other things we are told that Nasrudin used to work as a boatman, ferrying travellers from one side of the river to the other. One day a famous scholar and grammarian came and got into his boat. As they began to row out from shore, the scholar said: "Have you always worked as a boatman?" "I ain't never done nothing else," replied Nasrudin. The scholar laughed derisively. "Have you never studied grammar, my man?" "No," said Nasrudin. "Then," declared the passenger, "half your life has been wasted!" Meanwhile they had drawn out into the middle of the river. Suddenly Nasrudin noticed the boat had sprung a leak. He turned to the grammarian. "Have you ever learned to swim?" he inquired. "No, actually I haven't." "Then all your life has been wasted; we are sinking! " The Nasrudin stories originate with the Sufi mystics of Islam, who use the Wise Fool as a vehicle for teachings about the true nature and potential of man. A Nasrudin story is never, therefore, as simple as it seems. With this in mind, let us return to the one we've told, and follow out some of its implications. You'll notice the story presupposes that effective action is possible; if one can swim, one has a good chance of surviving the danger represented by the leaking boat. Why didn't the grammarian bother to learn the skill that could have saved him? My own suspicion is that he felt swimming to be beneath him, a pastime for children. However, even for the grammarian all hope is not lost. If he has the presence of mind not to panic, Nasrudin may be able to tow him safe to shore. And there is a shore, on which we expect Nasrudin to emerge dripping and frightened, perhaps, but alive. Who are the grammarian and the swimmer? We would, I think, fail to make full use of this story if we imagine that it is simply a tale about a wise, practical man and a pretentious, impractical one. The grammarian is far from being a fool: in his own sphere he is competent and effective and knows it. This knowledge contributes to his arrogance. It seems more likely that the story as a whole depicts some process within the self and that Nasrudin and the scholar are not really separate people at all. There is in each of us a grammarian and a swimmer; for each of us there is a river and a moment when we realize that the boat is inexorably sinking. The question the story poses is: How to deal realistically with this situation? Please notice that word "realistic," because realism is, I believe, one quality that the writer of true fantasy has in common with the Wise Fool Nasrudin. Like Nasrudin in the boat, the fantasist is concerned with reality and with effective action, action by which something important can be saved. But before we go on to discuss true fantasy, let us pause to note the distinction between it and the "sword and sorcery" type of entertainment. Insofar as "sword and sorcery" writers concentrate on entertaining the reader, they are doing something important and are practising a skill every novelist has an obligation to acquire. Insofar, however, as such writers reduce to a half-comprehended formula the myths developed by the genuine fantasists, they do not deserve our serious consideration. This is the last we shall be saying about them this afternoon. I should also like to say something brief about my own involvement in fantasy and about the slant on the subject which that involvement inevitably creates. That I have so far appeared in print almost exclusively as a fantasist is to some extent a distortion of perspective; I do write in other genres and am not nearly such a one-sided advocate of fantasy as some...

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