Oct 07 2010
Light Isn’t Boring
PW’s Genreville recently posted “In the Dark of the Shadowy Dark Shadows,” an entertaining piece on the prevalence of “Darkness” in fantasy titles (I note, with satisfaction, that of my three fantasy books, two involve light). But they went into the thematic importance of darkness in recent titles, too:
Particularly in paranormal romance, darkness is both evil and enticing, the source of both fear and power. Light tends to get a bad rap by comparison, of the “Evil will always triumph because good is dumb” sort. No one actually wants to be on the side of right and good. It’s boring. So dark ends up being cast as antagonist and protagonist and plot device all at once, and that gets boring too.
No surprise here–one look at a bookstore’s YA shelf clearly displays this troubling attitude toward moral and spiritual darkness. But comments like the above inspire me all the more to write books that display light–in all its dazzling glory. As Christian writers, we should never be guilty of presenting the True Light in such a way that it’s seen as “dumb” or “boring.” (E. Stephen Burnett wrote of one famous end-times novel that it “presented such a boring world, it may have even turned me to an opposite end-times view. I hope it didn’t also turn some readers away from the real hope of the New Earth!”)
Light (and the things it represents–goodness, faithfulness, glory) is not naturally boring, and we can’t afford to paint it that way in our story worlds. Light isn’t boring in the elves of Tolkien’s world; it isn’t boring in Narnia; it isn’t boring in Susan Cooper or Madeleine L’Engle or L.M. Montgomery or George MacDonald or Lloyd Alexander or our real human history.
So what does it take to represent it well? Imagination, unbridled. Passionate belief–a conviction in our own spirits that goodness is to be vaunted, admired, celebrated, rejoiced in. Knowledge of the real ways goodness and truth play out in our world. This is what we’re here for–to shine the light, on and off the page.
Great stuff here, Rachel.
My absolute favourite treatment of light/darkness is in C. S. Lewis’ Perelandra. In it, the devil is not a fascinating, provocative character (as he is in, say, Milton’s Paradise Lost). Instead, he is a petty, childish, annoying, and dull. He’s clever, yes; but when you really get to know him you find out he’s pathetic and utterly boring. Maleldil (God), on the other hand, is creative and energizing. And Perelandra — a world untouched by evil — is brilliant, exciting, refreshing, and bursting with life and adventure.
I can’t do it justice. But I think Lewis does a maginificent job of carrying out exactly what you’re talking about, because his imagination was uncontainable.
Kathleen, C.S. Lewis is such an incredible example of this, and I think it’s (at least in part) because he wasn’t afraid of imagination. He embraced it as a God-given gift and let it loose. Stephen Burnett’s SpecFaith article (which I linked to in this post) looks closely at the consequences of fearing fantasy or imagination–it’s a good read.
Lewis’s acknowledged mentor, George MacDonald, also wrote light astonishingly well. He wrote characters who are incredibly godly and incredibly in love with God, and instead of sappy or unrealistic, they are bracing–inspiring–exactly how truly godly people ARE.
I loved this post. I just LOVE it so much!
I find it so discouraging that so many YA titles out there these days are all bound around evil and the dark side of things. Where has all the wonder gone? Why is it that today’s YA question whether good could ever triumph over evil? It’s just so sad.
Ok… now I’m feeling inspired. I just might have to go rant about it for awhile. :D
Thanks for this post!
Nichole
I listed a link to this in my recent blog post of things I’m thankful for. Thanks for the vital reminder, Rachel!
~Rael