Improve the draft of post on the magician's realism.

1 files changed, 57 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/faith/magicians-realism.rst b/faith/magicians-realism.rst
index 4eb7218..84da602 100644
--- a/faith/magicians-realism.rst
+++ b/faith/magicians-realism.rst
@@ -10,8 +10,58 @@ Magicians’ Realism
 of the BBC’s In Our Time, originally developed as a review of 
 “`Strangers at Drakeshaugh`_” by Northumbrian and also a possible 
 commentary on “`Everything Wrong With HARRY POTTER Fanfictions`_” 
-by Purplemist14, which is HIGHLY recommended reading for any 
-hopeful fanfiction writer or reviewer)
+by Purplemist14, which is HIGHLY recommended reading for any
+hopeful fanfiction writer or reviewer; beginning used from `the
+comment on Reddit`_)
+
+Kingstone_ on Reddit said:
+
+> Realism is a quixotic quest when writing fantasy. There can be
+> no realism in a fic about wizards.
+
+I would slightly dispute that. I understand what he (she?
+Kingstone somehow feels masculine, I am sorry, if I am wrong)
+means, but I would like to abuse this replay to play a bit with
+the word “realism”. For him it seems to mean something like
+“story is as close to the objective reality and scientific
+conclusions as possible”, right?
+
+Let me point out the literary movement of the nineteenth century
+called realism. Henry James is quoted on that BBC show as saying
+that “realism is what in some shape or form we might encounter,
+whereas romanticism is something we will never encounter.”
+
+On the one hand you have novels like `H. G. Wells’ “History of Mr
+Polly” <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Mr_Polly>`__
+with normal story of normal person in the normal world. On the
+other hand you have `“Ivanhoe” by Sir Walter Scott
+<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanhoe>`__, the story in history,
+about kings, bandits, knights. However, my point is that the
+difference is deeper than just stage set of the story, it is
+about the story itself. The realist story deals with normal
+passions of normal people (here infidelity, meaning of life,
+finding a life partner). The romantic one is all about extremes:
+extreme love, saving the kingdom, the main opponent “[u]nscathed
+by the lance of his enemy, […] died a victim to the violence of
+his own contending passions”.
+
+I probably cannot claim that Harry Potter books are the realist
+adventure stories in line with “Farewell to Arms”, “All Quiet on
+the Western Front”, or even “The Good Soldier Švejk”, even
+considering that they are for teenagers/young adults. However,
+I would claim, that they are surprisingly closer to these than
+the classical fantasy (“Conan the Barbarian”, Marvel superheroes,
+but even perhaps “The Earthsea Cycle”), and that exactly not
+noticing this difference makes most crossovers and all attempts
+to create super!Harry (isn’t it remarkable how incredibly
+non-superhero Harry is in books?) are doomed from the beginning.
+
+----
+
+The novel “Mr Bailey, Grocer” supposedly written by the character
+Harold Biffen in the novel “New Grub Street” by George Gissing.
+
+----
 
 Brothers and sister, I am coming to you ashamed, because I have 
 to admit a horrible sin I have committed: I have not particularly 
@@ -74,3 +124,8 @@ are probably the most realistic of all HP fanfics. Thank you.
 .. _`Everything Wrong With HARRY POTTER Fanfictions`:
    https://www.wattpad.com/555529455-everything-wrong-with-harry-potter-fanfictions 
 
+.. _`the comment on Reddit`:
+   https://www.reddit.com/r/HPfanfiction/comments/gpzey1/realistic_stories_are_less_real_than_canon/frr5aud
+
+.. _Kingstone:
+   https://www.reddit.com/user/Kingsonne/