Is Reading Escapism?5/20/2023 For a couple of hours, the human experience finds itself outside the boundaries of reality. All it takes is prose and imagination. Suddenly, we are fairies, warriors, pilots. More importantly, we are brave or stubborn or delicate or conflicted. This is the allure of speculative fiction. Reading fantasy or science fiction gives people the unique opportunity of travelling wherever they can dream of. It breaks and bends all laws of nature and physics. It lets us explore alternate universes, far away galaxies, cursed kingdoms. Have you ever wondered why writers spend years world-building before beginning with their tale? It might just be because this new world they are creating needs to become tangible. Their creativity flows like rivers and waterfalls, powerful, almost limitless. It goes beyond, to paint a picture, to create a reality. So yes, if books allow us to leave this world for a moment, reading is escapism. Or is it? What if I told you that it might as well be a reflection of our reality. Fantasy and science fiction books will handle themes we face in our daily lives. We will find characters fighting for justice, power, love. In a castle or in a spaceship, but they are still searching for identity, trying to make sense of the conflicts they come across. So is it not just a new perspective on our own lives? Maybe, that is the true magic of fantasy and science fiction. That while we live a thousand lives and worlds, wielding magic and science as if we always had the right to do so, we can still connect to our human essence. As our eyes tear up, as we blush or grin, as we find ourselves thinking about the characters, we realise this piece of literature has become part of ourselves. And we, who give a new life to the story every time we read a word, have become part of literature too. Art moves people. So go, open your book. Immerse yourself in the story. Let yourself feel. Paula Argudois an Ecuadorian writer who weaves culture and magic into her stories. Her work has been featured in literary magazines such as SeaGlass Literary and Ice Lolly Review, and she was an international finalist in the Metamorphosis contest. When not writing, you can find her dancing, baking, or daydreaming.
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