Help me find this quote.

May 12, 2008 4:30 PM

Help me find this quotation. The gist of it is something like this: in current times, fantastical metaphors are the only way of describing the convoluted reality of experience.

I have tried to google this, but the problem is that I can't remember who wrote it, where I read it, or any specific words that are definitely in the quote. I'm pretty sure the quote doesn't come from any of the "big names" in fantasy or literature. I'm hoping that someone here has read the quote too and can point me to it. Thanks!

posted by overglow to writing & language (6 comments total)

I don't have a specific answer, but maybe a pointer. I feel certain I have read similar sentiments in critical literature arguing for the value of Tolkien, that Tolkien's fantasy world is a literarily adequate and adept way of addressing the real problems of his time.

Tom Shippey comes to mind. He is strong advocate for Tolkien's literary merits so perhaps in one of his books or comments?
posted by MasonDixon at 4:50 PM on May 12, 2008

Sounds like the sort of thing that Gabriel Garcia Marquez might have said? Some candidate quotations appear on Marquez's wikiquotes page.

But on the other hand, Marquez is one of those "big names" in literature; he touched on the themes you mention in his Nobel Prize address of 1982.
posted by washburn at 6:23 PM on May 12, 2008

Sounds to me like something Jorge Luis Borges might have written. I haven't been able to come up with the quote though.
posted by ludwig_van at 6:47 PM on May 12, 2008

MasonDixon, thanks for the lead. Tom Shippey's name doesn't immediately ring a bell, but I'll check out his books/writings and see what I can find (especially since I'm interested in this topic in general). Just a note for others - I'm sure the quote didn't reference Tolkien (or any author) specifically.

washburn, thanks for those links. The quote I'm looking for wasn't in either of them, but there were definitely some similar ideas expressed.

And while I'm at it, I should probably thank ludwig_van too. So, thanks. :)
posted by overglow at 7:24 PM on May 12, 2008

"A pithy saying soothes the simple mind." ?
posted by Area Control at 1:10 PM on May 13, 2008

sounds like J. G. Ballard's introduction to his novel Crash
posted by davemack at 3:08 PM on May 13, 2008