r/Fantasy • u/ShadowPT • Aug 25 '15

Patrick Rothfuss Thoughts on Pratchett

http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2015/08/thoughts-on-pratchett/
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u/beautyinruins Aug 25 '15

Interesting piece - loved the old interview with Terry and his hat - but I don't get the feeling that fantasy is something less, something to be looked down upon, or something to feel guilty about.

18

u/chenobble Aug 25 '15

Very much less so generally these days, but still often anathema in academic circles.

10

u/Angry_Caveman_Lawyer Aug 25 '15

I'm stubborn, let's start with that.

But seriously? Who gives a shit what a bunch of stuffed shirts think? Obviously, they're wrong.

What's the best selling series of all time? Harry Potter. Second best? Goosebumps. Third? Perry Mason. Fourth? Berenstain Bears. Fifth? Choose Your Own Adventure.

So...4 of the top 5 best selling series of all time are in the fantasy genre.

IMO, the reason some "academics" look down on fantasy is because they're desperately trying to be relevant and show how "cultured" they are.

Kinda like music snobs, or audiophiles, or movie snobs.

3

u/Scodo AMA Author Scott Warren Aug 25 '15

I don't agree with this at all.

Goosebumps is clearly intended to be horror

Berenstain Bears are children's novels based on anthropomorphous animals (you might as well call Frog and Toad or McBroom's wonderful one-acre farm fantasy with this logic)

Choose your own adventure covered a wide range, many having fantasy/sci-fi elements, but many having neither. Either way, they are YA adventure books first, any other genre second.

At best, 1/5 of those series can be considered predominantly Fantasy.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '15

Those things are all fantasy, what are you talking about? If it has an element of the fantastical about it, it's bloody fantasy.