Volume 21 Article 7

Number 3

Summer 7-15-1996

Orson Scott Card: An Approach to Mythopoeic Fiction

Michael R. Collings

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Recommended Citation
Collings, Michael R. (1996) "Orson Scott Card: An Approach to Mythopoeic Fiction," Mythlore: A Journal of
J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 21: No. 3, Article 7.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol21/iss3/7

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17th–18th February 2024: Something Mighty Queer

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Orson Scott Card: An Approach to Mythopoeic Fiction

Abstract
Guest of Honor speech, Mythcon 26. Discusses Card’s fiction in the context of his own essay, “Fantasy
and the Believing Reader” (reprinted in full as an appendix).

Additional Keywords
Card, Orson Scott—Characters—Ender Wiggin; Card, Orson Scott—Mormonism; Card, Orson
Scott—Theories of writing fiction; Card, Orson Scott. The Alvin Maker series; Card, Orson Scott. The Lost
Boys; Fantasy—Criticism and interpretation

This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic
Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol21/iss3/7
P >A .Q e 3 6 Iss u e si SucncoeR 1996 C D a G K H O S G

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y C ritick is "all story that is received b y readers as

O
ccasionally m y ow n not-yet-forgotten undergradu­
ate training in sem antics surfaces to remind me of the being detached from them. It defines the reader neither as
importance of definition, particularly of words we all as­ a human being nor as a m em ber of a group. Rather,
sume we understand. A word such as "M ythopoeic" is critickal readers evaluate the meaning or truth of the story
open to a variety of definitions (to say nothing of the even consciously, usually detaching the m eaning from the story
more elusive word fantasy, a word that m ay be, as the itself."
bibliographer E. F. Bleiler writes, "alm ost all things to all
Epick and M ythick do not require conscious decisions to
m en" (M anlove 1). Even narrowing the field to "m y­
believe; the reader sim ply accepts or rejects the fundam en­
thopoeic fantasy" invites an enorm ous range of possibili­
tal assumptions of the story; "T he self is nam ed by the
ties, including the consensus definition for this conference:
story, and so to doubt the story is to renam e the self."
the fiction of the Inklings (J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and
Charles Williams); the winners and finalists of the My­ This differentiation is central to C ard's writing, because
thopoeic Fantasy Award, which is given for works in the the approach the reader takes does ultim ately effect the
spirit of the Inklings; and other books that are to a significant way the reader perceives the text:
degree like them. (Bratman)
Because critical readers read, not believing, but instead iden­
W hile this m ay be relatively vague, it is as useful or tifying and detaching meanings from the story, they are
more useful than the standard dictionary definition of incapable of properly receiving a story that was written
mythopoeic as "productive of myths; m yth-m aking." This mythickly or epickly: They cannot receive a story that was
bare-bones definition is largely un-helpful, as a m atter of written from belief. Likewise, mythick and epick readers,
because they believe as they do, do not usually discern and
fact, because m any such fantasists do not claim to be
detach meanings. The two methods are not compatible.
actively making myth; rather, they systematically incorpo­
rate pre-existing m ythic patterns into their works. It would In addition, m any stories do not respond w ell to
be difficult, for example to appreciate the intricate textur­ critickal readings; the story breaks dow n to m ere conven­
ings of a Perelandra without understanding how cultural tion, particularly in fantasy:
myth can be interwoven with story; even in a novel as
"earthbound" as That Hideous Strength, myths — both Critics examine it and find strong-thewed heroes sav­
ancient and m odem , magical and scientific — blend to ing damsels in distress, m agic rings and prophecies, dark
augm ent the power of Lewis's storytelling. forces opposing the bright light of goodness, and the critics
say, "cardboard characters. Endless repetition of m eaning­
More recently, O rson Scott Card is among those con­ less conventions. H ack writing. C hildish oversimplifica­
tem porary writers who have explored the possibilities of tion of good and evil. Obviously written for the adolescent
mythopoeic fiction from the perspectives of Tolkien and mind. Wish-fulfillment. Bourgeois and fascist and sexist
Lewis. In "Fantasy and the Believing Reader," Card argues and racist. Pure trash." And ah! the m ost dam ning epithet
that the essence of the fantastic is "b elief," in that the of all: "Escapist."
fantastic is effective to the degree that readers become
"participatory" and em brace for the mom ent the universe But fantasy often exerts pow er over us precisely be­
of the story— including the m yths it asserts— and allow the cause it cannot be reduced to distanced, critical statements
story to change them. There are, he argues, three ways of of meanings: sym bolic, m etaphorical, allegorical, or other­
"believing" a story: epic, mythic, and critical, re-spelling wise. Even the "dam ning epithet" is itself incorporated
each to differentiate it from its conventional homonym: into the way Card looks at such literature. N egative "es­
capism " occurs, not in reading m ythopoeic fictions, but
y Epick is "all story that is received by a group as its own rather in creating the distanced, dispassionate, analytical
story—as true o f that group. It is all story that tells who we are
and critical readings that sever story from reader:
as opposed to who they are."
y Mythick is "all story that is received by readers as true of The detached reader is escaping, not from that set of
all human beings, and therefore lets each reader define him­ fictions called reality, b ut from that m ost dangerous and
self as like or unlike the characters in the book. It is believed fearful of all things, the true story. The closest thing to true
on a personal, not group level." com munication betw een two hum an beings is story-tell-
 Iss u e si W BucocoeK 1996 p A t j e 37

ing, for despite his b est efforts at concealment, a w riter will story — as true o f that group. " W hile Card is certainly
inevitably reveal in his story the world he believes he lives interested in writing to as large an audience as possible,
in, and tire participatory reader w ill forever after carry there is a core of meaning in his work that defines the
around in him self and as him self a m em ory that was partly primary group to which he perceives him self as belong­
controlled by that other hum an being. Such m em ories are ing— these stories tell his "Epicks of M orm onism ."
not neatly sorted into fiction and real life in our minds. I
Readers are often aware of generally religious im plica­
know, of course, that I never stood at the Cracks of Doom
tions in Card's fictions. Gareth Rees points out in an online
and watched G ollum die. But that faith in the distinction
review of The Worthing Chronicle that the novel clearly
between m y own actions and the actions o f fictional char­
defines C ard's "m oral im perative" that pain and grief are
acters is m erely another story I tell myself. In fact, m y
necessary for growth:
memory of that event is m uch clearer and m ore powerful
than m y m emory of m y fifth birthday. Even if, like me, you find this attitude disturbing and
reeking of hypocrisy, we must take it seriously as it is a
Thus Card, like Lewis and Tolkien, ultimately depends
respectable belief within the C hristian com munity. In­
on M yth (with the capital "M ," to suggest those patterns
deed, it is perhaps a necessary belief for people otherwise
of believing that order our perceptions of the universe),
unable to reconcile their belief in a loving and om nipotent
not so much to assert a m eaning or m oral as to communicate
God with the state of the world. View ed in this way, The
stories that becom e m em ories that in turn touch upon
Worthing Chronicle is an attempt to justify God to His
w hat he sees as the true underpinnings of those stories.
creation, a task that would tax a Milton, and it is not
O f course, this statem ent requires that I now attempt surprising that Card fails.
the im possible — at least given C ard's assertions about
Rees does not accept the story Card is telling and thus,
the nature of reading and understanding: I must attempt
for him as reader, books such as The Worthing Chronicle fail;
to give a Critickal reading of a writer who approaches Story
yet Rees nevertheless recognizes that Card, like Milton
as Epick and Mythick.
(and not coincidentally, Lewis), constructs stories on reli­
Paradoxically, this attempt is m ade easier by the fact gious bases that sim ultaneously lend them pow er and
that, while the word m ythopoeic m ight still remain vague, make them liable to attack from non-believers.
abstract, even ambiguous, two of Card's three ways of
Initially, religious elem ents appeared sporadically in
believing are fundamentally mythopoeic. Both "M ythick"
Card's SF/F stories, while Capitol, A Planet Called Treason,
and "E pick " require a com m itm ent from the participatory
and The Worthing Chronicle suggested generalized M or­
reader to coherent patterns of belief that not only inform
mon references to some readers. By the early 1980s, how­
the story b ut that also define readers as belonging to
ever, Card's use of the "Epick of M orm onism " became
specific groups and sharing specific identities. Two inter­
more overt. Between July, 1982 and M arch, 1983, h e com­
connecting "epicks" help define Card and his works: the
bined M ormon themes with the form of Lew is's The Screw-
"Epick of M orm onism " and the "E pick of A m erica"; but
tape Letters. Published in an underground new spaper to a
encompassing both is the m ost fundamental and far-
lim ited audience, Notes o f a Guardian A ngel (chapters 1-6),
reaching of all, the "M yth of the Sacrifice."
narrated the trials and growth of a young M orm on boy,
Card has com mented that he see him self as an outsider. and used Lewis's story both as a m odel and as a literary
Critics such as John Clute and Joe Christopher have noted warrant to incorporate — to borrow Lew is's phrasing —
the sense of "self-containm ent" (Christopher 2) in Lewis's "angels" instead of "space ships" into his fiction.
works, the fact that, as an U lster Protestant b om in Catho­
But with Seventh Son (1987), the M ythopoeic Fantasy
lic Belfast, Lewis belonged to a "surrounded but prosely­
Award w inner in 1988, Card openly invited a m uch wider
tizing faith" (Clute 244). There is a sim ilar sense of relig­
readership to share elem ents of his own religious heritage.
ious isolation in Card. In "O n Sycam ore H ill," Card talks
This first volume of the saga of Alvin M iller in an alter­
about how he cam e to write two short stories in The Folk o f
nate-universe America where magic, science, and religion
the Fringe. One evening, as the rest of a workshop group left
all work, re-creates as fiction the "E pick" of portions of the
for dinner, Card remained behind. He thought at first that he
Mormon past. Card so seam lessly incorporates episodes
wanted to work on his stories, but the real reason had little
based on the early life o f Joseph Sm ith, the first president
to do with an unfinished story; it was in fact his awareness
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that
that as a Mormon, he was not truly part of the group:
historical motifs becom e as integral to his story as if he had
Ethis w asn't m y com munity. These guys were A meri­ imagined them.
cans, not M ormons; those of us who grew up in M ormon
Perhaps the best example of this occurs late in Seventh
society and rem ain intensely involved are only nominally
Son. Young Alvin fractures his leg while trying to save a
members o f the A m erican community. W e can fake it, but
millstone from breaking (not coincidentally, this stone is
w e're alw ays speaking a foreign language.(9)
literally "carved out of a m ountain with no han ds" and
In a very real sense, then, portions of Card's fictions are helps establish Alvin as a "M aker"). Alvin heals his leg but
"epick "— Story that "is received by a group as its own cannot heal a spot of darkness in the bone itself, the signa­
Pa.ee 38 Iss u e si jSucncneR 1 9 9 6 CDaUHGOKG
ture of the U nm aker — a figure closely allied to Lewis's from that mom ent it becom es clear that the plot m ovem ent
Un-man in Perelandra. Alvin realizes that the diseased spot throughout the Homecoming Series is based explicitly on
must be surgically excised. As his older brother Measure narratives from the Book of M ormon.
prepares to operate, Alvin refuses wine to dull the pain. "I
If incorporating M orm onism were all that Card had
can stand the pain and hold right still, iffen you whistle," he
attempted in the Homecoming n ovels or the Alvin Maker
assures his brother, who successfully removes the bit of bone
series, he would, I think, rem ain an excellent w riter work­
that otherwise would spread and kill the young Maker.
ing on a narrow, parochial level. His just presenting M or­
The original of this episode is one of the best known mon history and theology in fictionalized form would
stories in the M ormon com munity about the early life of have disturbed many readers, M orm on and non-M ormon
Joseph Smith, ideally suited to Card's purposes in Seventh alike. One reviewer, in fact, warns that the Alvin Maker
Son— to illustrate A lvin's courage, m oral intensity, and series "is lifted, pretty blatantly, from the history of the
spiritual power. Significant details are altered, but the the M ormon Church.Alvin M aker is sim ply Joseph Smith,
power of the pattern remains, allowing Card to speak to founder of the M ormon Church, and the events in the story
Mormons and non-M ormons alike in a story informed — from his anomalous birth, to the Red Prophet, and
with specific spiritual and moral values and at the same onwards — are all in the original story of Sm ith's life."
time equally engaging as an alternate-universe fantasy. Then, speaking as if all of this w ere a deeply protected
secret, the reviewer concludes, "I'd love to see how Card
The five-part, 1700-page H omecoming series further
wraps this all up without people beginning to notice.
develops the "Epick of M orm onism ." On the planet Har­
("O rson Scott Card: Books")
mony, a com puter-entity, the Oversoul, manipulates the
family of N afai to leave the city of Basilica and wander for Such com ments miss C ard's point entirely. Alvin
years in the wilderness until they finally arrive at the place Miller is not just Joseph Sm ith; nothing in Joseph Sm ith's
where the original colonists arrived 40,000,000 years be­ life records suggest that he spent a year w andering the
fore and w here their ships have remained in stasis, await­ wilderness with Tecum seh or that he was present at a
ing this moment. Activating the ships, N afai's group re­ cataclysmic battle at Detroit. Nor is there anything in the
turns to Earth to re-establish humanity on their home Book of M ormon to foreshadow the pivotal role of women
planet. Throughout, Card displays his hallmark creativity, in the Homecoming series, or the central point that once
peopling both H arm ony and Earth with fully developed humans nearly destroy themselves on Earth, this planet
cultures, both hum an and alien; generating internal and will be inherited by evolved rats and bats. To suggest that
external discords to com plicate N afai's mission; even ex-^ all Card is doing is re-creating M orm on theology is to
ploiting the com plexities of time and space as he had done argue that all Lewis does in Perelandra is to crib from
in Capitol, A Planet Called Treason, Speaker fo r the Dead, and Genesis, or that Till We Have Faces is only the Cupid and
Xenocide. Psyche myth retold. Such assertions as m uch ignore the
But underlying what seem s a relatively conventional power of L ewis's fiction as they miss the power of Card's.
SF plot is som ething extraordinary. Early in The Memory o f But Card only begins here. Then he moves on to wider
Earth (Homecoming, Volume 1), Nafai and his brother im plications — to m ore expansive "ep icks" that incorpo­
glance back down the road from the city gates: "If Nafai rate wider and wider audiences and tap into the power of
and Issib had delayed even ten m inutes m ore they would more pervasive cultural Myth.
have had to m ake this trip in the noise and stink of horses,
donkeys, mules, and kurelom iE" (16). Kurelomi is an un­ The process is best illustrated in the Alvin M aker sto­
usual word, but m ost SF/Fantasy readers would willingly ries. Seventh Son incorporates much that is narrowly M or­
accept such a nonce word used, apparently, to assert an mon, but Card also suggests broader interests. Taleswap-
alien environment. M ormon readers, however, would per m entions Ben Franklin's reputation as a wizard, pos­
note that the word echoes a Book of M ormon passage sibly even a Maker; but Franklin him self claim s that "The
describing an "exceedingly rich" society, where individu­ only thing I ever truly m ade w as A m ericans." By "A m eri­
als owned horses, asses, and elephants, and "curelom s and cans" Franklin m eans m ore than just people b om in a
cum om s" (Ether 9:1 9 ). certain geographic location; by re-w riting Am erican his­
tory, Card illuminates the inner vision of what accepting
Som e dozen pages later, when N afai's father describes
that nam e means, justifying Talesw apper's rhetorical
a vision sent by the Oversoul concerning the imminent
question: "N ow tell me, Alvin Junior, was old Ben wrong
destruction of Basilica and ultimately of the entire planet,
to say that the greatest thing he ever m ade was a single
there is a m oment of recognition potentially as startling as
w ord?" (Seventh Son 139)
the lamb and the lion passage at the end of The Voyage o f
the Dawn Treader. W hat W etchik describes is Lehi's vision The second volume, Red Prophet, departs alm ost en­
of the destruction of Jerusalem , taken from the Book of tirely from the "M orm on E pick" of Seventh Son to concen­
Mormon. W etchik and his four sons becom e analogues to trate on the "Epick of A m erica" — here, the conflict be­
Lehi and his four sons. The Palwashantu Index that Nafai tw een "R ed s" and "W h ites." Again, C ard's treatm ent is
must kill to obtain parallels the Brass Plates of Laban. And consciously mythic. His "R ed s" have a direct relationship
 Iss u e 81 ^ JSUCDCDGR 1 9 9 6 pA.<?e 3 9
with the Land that no W hite can ever know, except Alvin. tered. The faint audience lights came on. A few voices,
This relationship intensifies the mythic relationship sug­ talking, began among the crowd. The applause was over.
gested in tales about "noble savages" living harmoniously The unity was broken. The audience was once again the
with Nature. C ard's "R ed s" feel the greensong, and thousand citizens of Hatchvillefi.
through its power, can call animals for food, run for days
Suddenly Deaver realized something.fiFor a while to­
without wearying, and enhance their true stewardship
night they saw and heard and felt the same things. And
over the land. Card is n o doubt aware that this version of
now they'd carry away the sam e memories, which meant
the story is in part historically untrue; yet he is equally
that to some degree they were the sam e person. One.
aware of the power of the m yth and capitalizes on it, just
(214-215)
as Lewis knew even as he was writing Out o f the Silent
Planet that there were actually no "can als" as such on Mars. This is the power of Myth— the power to weld partici­
(O f Other Worlds 50). Card's "R ed s" m ay not reflect histori­ pants into a single community of structured m emory and
cal reality in every detail, but they do reflect one popular vicarious experience. In som e cases, Card writes specifi­
version of the m yth o f A m erica's beginnings. cally for M ormon readers who will understand the full
power of Card's images; in others, he w rites specifically
Late in Red Prophet, the prophet, Tenskwa-Tawa,
for Americans, w ho will recognize the power of the Myth
speaks to A lvin's brother, M easure:
of America, regardless of how far it might diverge from
The bigger a man is, the more people he serves.fi A small man present reality; and, in stories such as "A m erica," Red
serves himself. Bigger is to serve your family. Bigger is to Prophet, and the H omecoming series, Card even warns
serve your tribe. Then your people. Biggest of all, to serve all
readers of dangers to the integrity of those Myths. In Red
men, and all lands. (185)
Prophet, Tenskwa-Tawa sees an America divided, with
In the Alvin Maker series, Card begins by serving his Reds in the west and Whites in the East. In all other visions,
own tribe, restructuring the story of Joseph Sm ith in a the Red men dwindled, confined to tiny preserves of desolate
magical universe. As the series has progressed, however, land, until the whole land was White, and therefore brutal­
that focus enlarges until in Red Prophet, Card emphasizes ized into submission, stripped and cut and ravished, giving
the larger context of the A merican nation, with its prom­ vast amounts of food that was only in imitation of the true
ises of freedom and liberty; and the third volume, Prentice harvest, poisoned into life by alchemical trickery. Even the
Alvin, deals explicitly with another "Epick of America," White man suffered in those visions of the future, but it
would be many generations before he realized what he had
the struggle against slavery. W hile M ormon elem ents oc­
done. Yet here — Prophetstown — there was a day — tomor­
cur, this volum e is m ore directly about w hat America can
row — when the future could be turned onto an unlikely
and should be; it is about freedom and justice on all levels, path, but a better one. One that would lead to a living land
from the personal to the public. The A lvin Maker series after all, even if it was truncated; one that would lead some­
builds on the "Epick o f A m erica" to suggest not only lost day to a crystal city catching sunlight and turning it into
opportunities in the past but potentials for the present; it visions of truth for all who lived within it. (234)
is designed to elicit those remaining elements of greatness
In the vision of Tenskwa-Tawa, there is hope; in the
in the American M yth of dream and belief.
America of the 1990s, we already live in the hopeless,
The "Epick of A m erica" and the "Epick of Mormon- desolate, dying land the Red Prophet struggled to avoid.
ism " sim ilarly com bine in The Folk o f the Fringe, originally
Card's exploration of mythic power extends beyond
called "Tales of the M ormon Sea." Card's concern for
these "Epicks" of M ormonism and of America, however.
America-as-Myth permeates the apocalyptic dream-vi­
Even earlier than his overt em bracing o f M ormonism and
sions of "A m erica" and the carefully crafted theatricality
America as themes, he had asserted more encompassing
of Glory o f America, perform ed in "Pageant W agon," as he
mythic patterns. As the Red Prophet said, the greatest
forges these two m ythic strands into one Story:
service is to "serve all men, and all lands." Among Card's
it seemed a little strange that a show called Glory o f America earliest stories are a number that attempt to tell stories that
should have an equal mix of Mormon and American history. touch on some of the most im portant Stories. In "Ender's
But to these people fi it was all the same story. George Gam e" (1977), "K ingsm eat" (1978), "H art's Hope (1980),
Washington, Betsy Ross, Joseph Smith. Abraham Lincoln,
and "The Porcelain Salamander" (1981), and others, Card
Brigham Young, all part of the same unfolding tale. Their
own past. (210-211) investigates the "M yth of the Sacrifice," the m ediator, the
advocate, the Christ-figure. These stories are sometimes
The pageant defines the M yths that holds one com mu­ harsh and brutal, since he is concerned not simply with
nity together. Card is not proselytizing for either, neither easy answers but with difficult realities, particularly when
the truthfulness of M ormonism nor the sanctity of the the sacrificial figure is only partially, or perhaps not at all
America Dream. Instead, he creates a story about commu­ understood by the ones who need salvation.
nity that combines these M yths into a single entity. As the
Glory o f America ends, The epitome of the sacrificial Christie figure in Card's
fiction is Ender Wiggin, whose very existence meets the
lithe shouting faded, the clapping became more scat­ needs o f the larger community, and whose career as m ili­
ip A Q e 40 Is s u e si W jSucocoen 1 9 9 6
tary genius, as itinerant interplanetary mediator and ad­ ledged that the sequel to Speaker fo r the Dead would be
vocate, as apostle to aliens, and as human link with the difficult to write:
generative powers of G od (emphasized in the title of the it will be even more different from the first two than Speaker
fourth volum e, Children o f the M ind) is based on serving was from Ender. It's cosmic Sci-Fi — discovering what ev­
larger and larger com munities. As such, these stories anat­ erything is made of, what underlies the laws of the universe,
omize the role of mediators — most often Ender Wiggin that sort of thing. (Shirk 12)
but occasionally others as well — in an attempt at under­
"C osm ic Sci-Fi" — he sam e kind of Story that Lewis
standing the psychological and spiritual dimensions of
weaves in the Ransom novels, as we gradually understand
sacrifice w ithin die context of Christie imagery and m ean­
the connections among all things w ithin the Fields of
ing. These novels occasionally discuss God overtly but
Arbol, through M aleldil as creator. C ard's discussions of
they are essentially about atonement, sacrifice, mediation,
philotes and philotic webs seem intended less as scientific,
and their effects on community.
extrapolative suggestions about the actual functioning of
Episode after episode in Ender's Game resonates with universe and m eta-universe than as metaphorical ways of
Christie, Biblical meaning, as when Ender as savior of defining the underlying M yth of creation and generation
humanity is aided by the chosen twelve closest to him and that shape his stories, especially the Story of Ender Wiggin,
most capable of carrying out his mission (217); when, "som etim es monster, always som ething of a savior, or a
following the destruction of the buggers' home planet, prophet, or at least a m artyr."
Ender descends into the darkness of quasi-death for five To varying degrees, C ard's readership has responded
days, during which he sees, understands, and accepts the to the power of Myth as it percolates through the Stories
consequences of his actions (330-332); and finally when, that em bodies it. Yet the sam e acknowledgem ent of
with the defeat of hum anity's perceived enemies, he be­ mythic power also makes these novels vulnerable to at­
comes "T he child-god, the miracle worker, with life and tack. As happens occasionally in Lewis studies, critics who
death in his han d s" (338). By the end of the novel, Ender do not accept C ard's M yths as true may have difficulty
has come as close as is humanly possible to being a Christ- accepting the Stories Card uses to define them, as when
figure, sacrificing all to save all, accepting the responsibil­ the Ender novels are rejected as neo-Hitlerian, m ale-ori­
ity of a billion, billion deaths (311). ented power-fantasies perpetrated by a m isogynistic, my­
In Speaker fo r the Dead, Ender is now quasi-immortal; opic, militaristic anti-fem inist (Radford); or when A
through time-space dilation, he has aged only a few years Woman o f Destiny is written off as a predictably formulaic
while 3,000 years have passed for the rest of humanity. romance (Quaglia). But for readers open to the Myths
Again, Ender is explicitly linked with messianic, media- these writers explore, the Stories becom e things of enor­
tional functions. To his sister's children, he is "their long- mous potential. A nd, in their ow n way, the M yths becom e
lost Uncle Ender, w ho was thought in every world to be a means by which more difficult books can be approached
monster, but in reality was som ething of a savior, or a and understood.
prophet, or at least a m artyr" (88). He is the apostle to the
Much like Lewis's That Hideous Strength, C ard's most
piggies, who recognize his Christie function. M ost signifi­
recent single-volum e novel has elicited strong criticism for
cantly, he must witness the com pact between humans and
doing what it should not and for not doing w hat it appar­
piggies by reversing his role from Ender's Game. Instead of
ently should. Yet, when one looks at it closely, Lost Boys
being the sacrifice, he must sacrifice the alien named H u­
(1992) is a logical conclusion thus far to C ard's interlocking
man. To Ender's bitter com m ent that he is "cold and
approach to three essential M ythic patterns.
ruthless" enough to solidify the covenant in the only way
the piggies w ill accept, Novinha responds that he is also Lost Boys seem s on the surface a far cry from my­
"Com passionate enoughEto put the hot iron into the thopoeic fantasy. In fact, m ost of it seem s barely fantastic
wound w hen that's the only way to heal it." And, as Ender at all; only in the final pages does C ard leave the world as
understands, "A s one who had felt his burning iron cau­ we know it and enter another world, where M yth becomes
terize her deepest wounds, she had the right to speak; and Reality; but even there, he m akes it clear that term s such
he believed her, and it eased his heart for the bloody work as fantasy and reality are only relative in this novel. As Step
ahead" (374). He perform s a passage into Life-after-Death Fletcher says about his son's apparent problem s facing
that Hum an and others describe in terms of miracles and reality, "It's the real world that h e's living in, only just as
covenants, sacrament and resurrection, brotherhood and we thought, he sees it m ore deeply and truly than the rest
ascent into the light (380-381,384). In the words of Bishop of us" (376). In addition, long portions of the novel discuss
Peregrino, the Speaker's interference w ith the established the m undane concerns of m aking a living, of defining
structure of things on Lusitania has turned into revelation: relationships, both family and social, of hom e and school
It was the miracle of the wafer, turned into the flesh of God in and job. One reader w rites that the novel is sim ply about
his hands. How suddenly we find the flesh of God within us a "struggling com puter program m er with a strong re-
after all, when we thought that we were only made of dust. (385) ligiousEbackground and a son who is having weird exper­
iences with video games. I really was caught up in the trials
Even before Xenocide was published, Card acknow­ and tribulations of the program m er's life, but the subplot
m g o m o f i e _ Iss u e 81 W jSuCOCDeR 1 9 96 P * .Q e 4i

of the boy is always kinda [sic] creepy in the background" so much detail from your own life, you've appropriated
("Bob's Books"). A nother reviewer, summarizes the novel something that doesn't belong to you. You've pretended
as being about "a family w ho lose a difficult child to a to feel the grief o f a parent who has lost a child, and you
murderer, but w hen he com es back as a ghost they are able don't have a right to feel that grief" ("Lost Boys" 89).
to give him the perfect Christmas he never had when he Card's response is that "Lost Boys" contains a private
was alive" (Rees). Myth. Responding to Fow ler's comments, Card discov­
ered that
Both responses are fundamentally inaccurate. Stevie's
story is not a quirky sub-plot; it is the rationale for the This story wasn't about a fictional eldest child named
entire novel, with Step Fletcher's difficulties at w ork de­ "Scotty." It was about my real-life youngest child, Charlie Ben.
fining one of several reasons w hy Step is unable to rescue
Charlie, who in the five and a half years of his life has
his son until too late. The novel discusses Mormons and never been able to speak a word to us. Charlie, who could
Mormonism, but not in the sense that its purpose is to
not smile at us until he was a year old, who could not hug us
convince readers that M orm onism is true; instead, religion
until he was four, who still spends his days and nights in
illuminates Stevie's decisions, particularly his need to stop
stillness, staying wherever we put him, able to wriggle but
a vicious, spreading evil. And the Fletchers do not merely not to run, able to call outbutnot to speak, able to understand
give Stevie "the perfect Christm as he n ever had when he
that he cannot do what his brother and sister do, but not to
was alive" (which is sim ply false to the novel); but rather ask us why. In short, a child who is not dead and yet can
their child finds the strength to bring one final, nearly barely taste life despite all our love and all our yearning.
"perfect" Christm as to the families of a killer's innocent
victims. By rejecting Card's underlying M yths, these read­ Yet in all the years of Charlie's life, until that day at
ers miss the power of the novel. It becomes merely, as one Sycamore Hill, I had never shed a single tear for him, never
reader said recently, a very sad book. allowed myself to grieve. I had worn a m ask of calm and
acceptance so convincing that I had believed it myself.E A
The case is com plicated by the fact the short story "Lost story that I had fancied was a mere lark, a dalliance in the
Boys" is a radically different story than the novel. This quaint old ghost-story tradition, was the m ost personal,
becomes im mediately apparent in the tone of the original painful story of m y career — and, unconsciously, I had
opening paragraphs: confessed as much by making it by far the m ost autobio­
graphical of my works. ("Lost B oys" 90)
Kristine and the kids and I moved to Greensboro on the
first o f March, 1 9 8 3 .1 w as happy enough about my job— I The story added a new dim ension to Card's use of
just w asn't sure I wanted a job at all. But the recession had Myth by allowing him to include him self directly in con­
the publishers all panicky, and nobody was com ing up fronting a truth that defines his life as a father.
with advances large enough to take a decent amount of
W hen Card expanded the story into a novel, that pri­
time writing a novel. I suppose I could whip out 75,000
vate myth retreated. Step and DeAnne Fletcher replaced
words of junk fiction every m onth and publish them under
Scott and Kristine; Stevie, Robbie, and Betsy replaced
half a dozen pseudonym s or something, but it seemed to
"Scotty," Geoffrey, and Emily; the new child was Jeremy
Kristine and m e that w e'd do better in the long run if I got
Zapata Fletcher instead of Charlie Ben. But Lost Boys re­
a job to ride out the recession. Besides, my Ph.D. was down
tained touches of Card's private Story. The Cards moved
the toilet. I'd been doing good work at N otre Dame, but
to Greensboro, N orth Carolina, while the Fletchers moved
when I had to take out a few weeks in the middle of a
to Steuben, N orth Carolina; but significantly the Fletchers
semester to finish Hart's Hope, the English department was
set out from Vigor, Illinois— echoing Vigor Church near
about as understanding as you'd expect from people who
the Hatrack River area that Card used as a landscape for
prefer their authors dead or domesticated. C an't feed your
the Alvin Maker novels. Even as Card removes Orson
family? So sorry. Y ou're a writer? Ah, but not that any­
Scott Card as character from the story, he replaced him
one's written a scholarly essay about. So long, boy-oh!
with allusions to Orson Scott Card, author of other books
("Lost Boys" 73-74)
that begin the process of exploration and discovery con­
This does not sound like the opening to a fiction; this is tinued in Lost Boys.
Orson Scott Card talking about his own life, his own Beyond this personal level, Lost Boys also illustrates
family, his ow n frustrations. The story continues in this Card's three consistent themes. The "Epick of M ormon­
way for several m ore paragraphs, providing insights into ism " is specifically represented. Throughout, Card pro­
Card's biography. Only w ith the introduction of an oldest vides his insights into the practical, everyday workings of
child, "Scotty," does the story assert itself as fiction; Scotty a religion that, for him, is the focus of his life and his
is the vehicle by which Card tells a Story that is, in essence,
family's lives. He is so persistent in providing these details
his own "E pick," his ow n Myth. that it is easy to see why readers m ight feel that he is
W hen he took the story to the Sycam ore Hill Writers proselytizing; but the M ormon references are so functional,
Workshop, it was sharply criticized. Card quotes Karen so integrated to the narrative that re-reading the short-story
Fowler as saying, "B y telling this story in first person with version, where religion is rarely mentioned, reveals a thin­
P A C j e 42 Is s u e 81 jS u C D C O e R 1 9 9 6 CDOGHEOKe
ness that mere word count cannot explain. For Step and Step and DeAnne buried their oldest boy in a cem etery
DeAnne Fletcher, religion is real. Blessings work. Proph­ on the western edge of Steuben, surrounded by thick
ecy is possible. Prayers can be answered, although not woods full of birds and animals, a living place. They both
always in the ways one might either wish or expect. knew as they stood beside the grave that their days of
wandering were through. They had been anchored now in
Thus, they of all people should be prepared when
Steuben, both by the living and the dead. Little Jeremy
Scotty's life is touched by transcendence. Yet initially they
would enter Open Doors [Clinic] when the time came;
fail their ow n beliefs. In That Hideous Strength, Lewis's
flowers would be tended on this grave. (447)
Mother Dimble can kneel in evening prayer, before a near
stranger, without any em barrassment; Card's Step finds it If Lost Boys remained m erely an extended version of
more difficult to do so. And in spite of their frequent one m an's private story, a story about the workings of a
contact with the spiritual, both Step and DeAnne persist specific religion, or even a story about w hat A m erica has
on defining Stevie's "problem " in secular terms, including become, then the novel would indeed be ju st "a very sad
sending him to a psychiatrist, only to find that Dr. Weeks story." But there is more. C ard's works, no matter how
wants to cure Stevie of his religion, since she sees it as terrible, frightening, sad, or even apparently inconclusive
fostering an unhealthy m ental state; yet she encourages struggle to m ove beyond the family, the tribe, even the
her own son to associate with the Mormons, since among people, to "serve all men, and all lands," and Lost Boys is
them his obsession with obtaining invisible powers and no exception. This novel works because each level is an
becoming a god will pass (she hopes) relatively unnoticed. inherent part of som ething larger. And structuring the
story is the M yth of Sacrifice.
Still, the M ormonism remains secondary to other con­
cerns. The novel is set in contemporary America. If in Red Stevie is not just a "problem child" w ho sees im aginary
Prophet Tenskwa-Tawa has a horrific vision of a land poi­ friends, plays phantom video gam es, and ignores his par­
soned and dying, devastated by the W hites, Step Fletcher ents. He is a vehicle by which Card can m ourn his own
lives in that vision. He brings his pregnant wife to a town "lost b oy"— yes: but on a much larger scale, he is an icon
enveloped by fumes from nearby tobacco factories; for innocence and purity; as Detective Douglas says:
DeAnne constantly battles nausea because of the stench.
His hom e is invaded several times by hordes of in­ there's som e people who do things so bad it tears at the
sects—june bugs, spiders, roaches; each time, the insects fabric of the world, and then there's som e people so sweet
are seeking to escape a violation of the land as the killer and good that they can feel it when the w orld gets torn.
buries yet another young victim in the dirt beneath the They see things, they know things, only they're so good
Fletcher's home. Even the steps taken to rid the house of and pure that they d on't understand what it is that they're
the insects are themselves poisonous, the residue of the seeing. I think that's w hat's been happening to your boy.
insecticide forcing the Fletchers out of their house and W hat's going on here in Steuben is so evil and he is so good
ironically inviting the killer inside. and pure that he can't help but feel it. The minute he got
to Steuben he m ust have felt it, and it m ade him sadE. The
And, most tragic of all, their world is a world of decep­ rest of us, we've got good and evil m ixed up in us, and our
tion, greed, anger, and evil. A fellow Mormon, who should own badness makes so much noise we can't hear the evil
have provided strength and support for the new family in of the monster out there. But your Stevie, he can hear it.
the area, perverts religion to her own end, frightening He can hear the nam es of the boys [and]£ your Stevie takes
young Stevie with self-serving "prophecies" and false these nam es, and he makes friends out o f them. (374)
"blessings." The teacher who should have helped Stevie
develop ties with his new com munity ridicules him to Douglas is close to the truth, but even he does not fully
bolster her own self-importance. A young m an who offers understand that Stevie achieves m ore than ju st nam ing the
to babysit the Fletchers' children turns out to be a sex lost boys. In a clim actic exchange, Step threatens to ban
offender so near being a mere "creatu re" that Step hesi­ Stevie from the computer, Stevie's m ain connection with
tates even to speak his children's nam es when the man can the lost boys. "You can 't," Stevie cried, "T h at's the only
hear. And, of course, at the center of the plot is the serial thing they're staying for! If I can't play th ey'll go aw ay!"
killer, the m urderer of young boys, whose actions impel (410). Step answers that m aybe the boy is spending en­
Stevie's need to redeem the killer's victims. tirely too much time playing Atari.

This is the America of reality, a place where Myth "Not as much as you spend on the IBM in there," said Stevie.
dissipates, a place already well on the way to the devasta­ "That happens to be my work," said Step. "That happens
tion and defeat that opens The Folk o f the Fringe. Yet even to be what pays for our house and our food and Zap's doctor
bills."
here there are remnants of hope: new-found friends pro­
"Are you the only one in the family who has work to
vide com fort and com munity; and by believing the unbe­
do?" Stevie demanded. (411)
lievable, a police investigator confirms the meaning of
Stevie's sacrifice. In the end, the place that saw the difficult Several pages later, DeAnne m akes the correct connec­
birth of one son and the death another becomes the com­ tion, even though neither she nor Step understands it
munity the Fletchers had been seeking: completely:
UjyGKBORG Iss u e 81

"The funniest thing," said DeAnne. "You know when he said,

JSl JCDCDGR 1 9 9 6 P * . Q e 43

In speaking about the eucatastrophe of fairy stories,

UYou're not the only one with work to do?' or whatever it Tolkien provides a paradigm for the final effect o f a story
was he said?" such as Lost Boys:
"Yeah, I didn't know whether to be delighted to see him
showing so much emotion or appalled that for the first time The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy
in his life he was yelling at his father." ending: or more correctly o f the good catastrophe, the sud­
"Do you know what went through my head when he said den joyous "turn" (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale):
that?" said DeAnne. "I thought, OWist ye not that I must be this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can
about my father's business?'" (412-413) produce supremely well, is not essentially "escapist," nor
At this point Lost Boys ceases to be m erely a sad book "fugitive." In its fairy-tale — or otherworld — setting, it is a
and becomes a powerful one, because Stevie is pure and sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to
good and perceives the tear in the w orld£and he has the recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of
courage to act to stop it. Through his courage, he can hold sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the
onto the lost boys long enough to teach them one thing that joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if
brings hope out of tragedy: how to be seen. you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium,
giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the
It is not an accident that the story closes on Christmas, world, poignant as grief. ("O n Fairy Stories" 68)
nor is it as one reader suggests a "schm alzy" manipulative
ploy on C ard's part (Rees), any m ore than it is a schmalzy In its final pages, Card's text em phasizes the effects of
m anipulative ploy on Lew is's part to signal the collapse of this pattern: the sudden "tu rn " that, far from providing
the W hite W itch's power by the appearance of Father em otional closure, reveals that on m ore fundamentally
Christm as. Instead, at the season of Birth and Hope, the mythic levels, the story opens outward, inviting readers
lost boys both give and receive a final gift: "farther in and farther up"; the "sudden and miraculous
grace" that brings consolation by intruding the supernat­
As Bappy [the killer] was led away, as the bodies were ural into the frighteningly real world C ard has re-created,
brought out of their hidden graves and under the police a world of serial killers and missing children. And the final
lights of that bitter cold Christm as Eve, one by one the boys paragraphs of Lost Boys provides precisely the em otional
inside the house no longer had the strength or the need to response that Tolkien defines:
keep trying anymore, and they said good-bye, and they
were gone. One mom ent there, the next m oment not there. It is the m ark of a good fairy-story, of the higher or
Then their parents left, weeping, clinging to each other, more complete kind, that however wild its events, how­
with just a whispered word or two from Douglas. "T ell no ever fantastic or terrible the adventures, it can give to the
one," he said. "Y ou d on't want your boy's nam e in the child or man that hears it, when the "tu rn " comes, a catch
press. Just go hom e and thank God you had a chance to of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to (or
say good-bye. One sm all m ercy in this whole cruel busi­ indeed accompanied by) tears, as keen as that given by any
ness." And the parents nodded and agreed and went home form of literary art. ("O n Fairy Stories" 68-69)
to the loneliest C hristm as of their lives, the Christmas in
which questions were answered at last, and love was Appendix: Fantasy and the Believing Reader
remembered and w ept for, and God was thanked and For the last half-century English-language literary criti­
blamed for not having done more. (442) cism has been captured by a system of belief called M od­
ernism or, in its later permutations, N ew Criticism. If
This is a tremendous weight for one boy, one Story, to
literary criticism were merely a club for people w ho think
bear; and Card's control comes perilously close to breaking.
they understand Ezra Pound, there would be no reason for
Yet I think that control does hold; the story does ultimate
fantasy writers and readers to take it into account. Unfor­
imitate the deeper, brighter Story that Card wants to tell.
tunately, however, this particular school of literary criti­
There may in fact be "m onsters in the m all" — evil close to
cism has acquired the status, in too many minds, of Truth.
us, unseen and unidentifiable except for its consequences;
Too many writers, eager to understand w hat it is that
but there are also those willing to sacrifice in order to bring
makes their stories happen, have learned to say "classi­
that evil into the light and defeat it. Card gives us the
cism " and "Rom anticism "as if H ulm e's use of the words
externals— an apparently disturbed child, whose parents
made any sense; to speak contemptuously of "naive iden-
struggle to find clues as to how to cure him— with the
tification"and the "pathetic fallacy"; and to discuss their
resolution only becoming fully understandable at the end
own work as if the reason for writing stories were to
of the story. W ith Stevie's parents, readers are invited to
convey meanings in such a way that only a trained reader
watch him make difficult decisions; yet the readers do not
can receive them— and the untrained reader can receive
understand his preliminary decisions any more than Step
nothing at all. With more and more fantasy writers being
and DeAnne do. The intensity and power of Stevie's sacri­
affected by this critical movement, and more and more
fice requires that it be revealed at precisely the correct
critics turning their techniques to fantasy, it is time that
moment, transforming what had seemed to be a "realistic"
this school of literary criticism were put in perspective in
novel into a deeply "m ythopoeic" one.
relation to fantasy stories.
p A - Q e 44 Iss u e si W SucncoeR 1996 O D g Q R IS O fiG
epic, mythic, and critical. These nam es are not arbitrarily
Authority for Belief chosen — I m ean them to resonate with m any old inten­
Literary criticism is the stories we tell ourselves about sions and contrast with m any old extensions of the words.
our stories. W hen we speak of a literary w ork's "m ean- H owever, they are not p arallel terms, and I w ish them to
ing"w e m ay be telling a story about how the author in­ be; and since I w ill use them in a restricted and in some
tended the word to be read, how the proper audience of ways arbitrary way, right alongside the m ore traditional
the work would have understood it, how the work is meanings, I will risk annoying you with affectation and
received by a m odem audience, what the work tells us will distinguish these special senses and odd gramm atical
about the author and his com munity or even how we think uses of the words with etym ologically unjustifiable but
the work should have been written and how it compares visually parallel spelling changes.
to that standard of measurement. In all cases, however, we
Epick is all story that is received by a group as its own
are telling a story— that is, we are giving an ordered ac­
story— as true o f that group. It is all story that tells who zve
count of causally related events.
are as opposed to who they are. M ost of the Old Testament
By tacit agreement we believe our literary stories in one was originally written and read epickly, because the audi­
way, as fiction, and our critical stories another way, as ence was the people of the book. They received it as an
history. N o one would attempt to prove that, say, Hamlet account of how we came out of Egypt, how we prospered
is "tru e"or "false,"though we regard it as being a truthful or declined according with our obedience to or rebellion
play. No one would dream of criticizing Shakespeare's against God.
writing of the play because Claudius didn't "really' kill
M ythick is all story that is received by readers as true
H am let's father. The center of belief in fiction is in the
author's assertions of causal relationships— from this of all hum an beings, and therefore lets each reader define
there is no appeal. On the other hand, when Stephen him self as like or unlike the characters in the book. It is
Dedalus argues that Hamlet is Shakespeare's working out believed on a personal, not group level.
of his own psychological problems caused by the death of Epick and m ythick are alike, how ever, in this: The
his son H amnet, w e can protest that this argument is false decision about w hether or not to believe is not consciously
or invalid or not justified by the evidence. The center of made. The story sim ply is or is not true. The self is nam ed
belief in criticism is historical — the ultimate authority by the story, and so to doubt the story is to rename the self.
from which there is no appeal is the "real"event. Since, of
course, the "reaT'event is forever unascertainable, w e can Critick is all story that is received b y readers as being
quarrel forever about proof in criticism (and all history). detached from them. It defines the reader neither as a human
W hat does Hamlet really mean? Is the story we tell about being nor as a member of a group. Rather, critickal readers
Hamlet true or false. In the meantime, however, while we evaluate the meaning or truth of the story consciously, usu­
may assert that Stephen Dedalus's account of Hamlet is ally detaching the meaning from the story itself.
false, we cannot say meaningfully that it is "tru e"or Because critical readers read, not believing, but instead
"false"that Dedalus said it, for Dedalus exists as a charac­ identifying and detaching m eanings from the story, they
ter in fiction and if Joyce tells us Dedalus said it, we must are incapable of properly receiving a story that was written
accept this without appeal, unless Joyce him self gives us mythickly or epickly: They cannot receive a story that was
reason w ithin the text to doubt his own statement. written from belief. Likewise, m ythick and epick readers,
This distinction between fictional and historical centers because they believe as they read, do not usually discern
of belief is rarely clearcut, however. H istorical and realistic and detach meanings. The two m ethods are not com pat­
fiction both im ply som e appeal to the historical center of ible. Once I have treated a story critickly, I am n o longer
belief, for example. In earlier times, writers and readers capable of treating it mythickly or epickly; I can only
were not so fussy about w hat must be justified by "real- pretend to do so, or tell m yself a story about w hat it was
ity"and what m ight be authoritatively invented by the like when I was capable of participatory reading.
writer. W here an individual w riter and his audience place
themselves on that continuum varies from work to work, Criticism as Story
even from paragraph to paragraph, and individual read­ Because criticism is also telling stories, how ever, it is
ers, too, will bestow or withdraw authority from a story im portant to remem ber that a critic can be treating a
on a historical or fictional basis depending on their own literary w ork one way and treating his ow n story about
expectations and experience. that work in another. Critics generally read all literary
works critickly, which leads to attempts to decode Faerie
Ways of Believing Queene, map Ulysses, patronize the naivete of Edgar Rice
W hen a w riter tells a story to his com munity, he will, Burroughs, or despise the superficiality of Pope. The critic
consciously or not, assume that the com munity will define almost invariably believes his ow n story about these
itself in relation to the story. I have noticed differences in works. Only a few critics in each generation are able to
the way I believe stories, whether fictional or historical, write their criticism critickly, to detach themselves from
and for clarity I distinguish three general types of belief: their own stories about stories.
ffiOGHGOfiG Iss u e 81 W S u C O C O C K 1996 p a . e e 45

A t the mom ent I seem to be functioning as a critickal

critic, for I am aware that m y definitions, m y nam ing, my
The Critic's Tale
The novel began as a rebellion against romance. Ro­
stories about stories about stories are all artificial con­
mance, which had been the soul of an age in w hich real
structs and not "tru e,"bu t m erely useful. However, this
account of m y own attitude is also a story and to be knights shed real blood, no longer satisfied uncourtly
writers, who turned to w riting romances about their con­
critickal I m ust call it into question, because in fact I would
temporaries and called them "new "rom ances, or novels.
not write these ideas if I ( i d not, at som e point along the
The novel caught on, not because it appealed to intellectu­
way, believe in them. I at least believe in my unbelief,
als, b ut because ordinary readers loved it.
which certainly nam es m e as a believer. W hich could bring
m e to paradox if it were not for the fact that part of the Since then, however, the novel has been captured by
story that I tell is that belief is, at som e point, inescapable. another story, a critical tale o f self-existing texts, in which
W hoever detaches him self from one story and ceases to it is praiseworthy to put distance betw een the reader and
nam e him self in relation to it invariably attaches to another the story, in which it is forbidden for a "good"reader to
story, if only the story that he is now detached. identify with a character or consider his own experience
of the novel as anything more than the "pathetic fallacy."
O f course you see where this leads. Coleridge and
W ordsworth m ust define themselves as different from All that was valuable in novels was that w hich was pub­
licly verifiable. In this way criticism could approach the
their predecessors and yet identify themselves as belong­
absolute correctness of science, in w hich only repeatable
ing in the sam e com pany. They are Milton, but they are
public experience is regarded as valid.
not-Milton, ju st as a child nam es him self as M other and
not-Mother. They treat their predecessors' stories critickly, Literateurs found this m ethod exciting and productive,
detaching themselves from those stories. They replace and so they believed it and started acting it out. They kept
them with their ow n epick story, which they believe and their distance from the texts they read, and instead ana­
which accounts for their predecessors and themselves and lyzed, breaking stories into pieces, discovering connec­
sets the world in order. T. S. Eliot and others m ust repeat tions betw een them, and then writing elaborate discursive
the task, endlessly redefining themselves. It is the univer­ paraphrases o f the "m eaning"of this or that great w ork of
sal pattern of all writers that they must both identify literature. The result was the creation of a special priest­
themselves w ith and distinguish themselves from their hood of correct readers, together building a tow er of sto­
predecessors. ries about stories which, presum ably, would take them to
heaven.
Yet this account (an oversimplification of Bloom) is also
a story. It is epick to those who believe it as a true account The result was sometimes absurdity, as when scholars
of how we (literateurs) work. It is m ythick to those who who did not believe in M ilton's God thought they could
believe that this process of nam ing through doubting old understand M ilton's work. And as these priests of de­
stories and telling new ones is universal. tached and transcendental reading told each other more
and more stories about stories, writers began to believe
Those who tell themselves the story that naive
them and write fiction for them. Such fiction was no longer
(mythickal or epickal) belief is primitive, while detached,
written to be believed. It was written to b e analyzed and
critickal understanding is m ore advanced, are inevitably
translated into discourse, and the only story that was
disturbed by this circularity, for if the critickal view is
believed anymore was the epick tale of the pure-minded
"better"or m ore elevated, this account of it makes true
critic, who, using absolute standards, officially given him
critick forever as unapproachable as true reality. The fully
by observation but actually given him by God, decided
detached stance is im possible, because the detached stance
w hat was good and what was bad in fiction. Trembling,
itself requires belief in detachment.
the writers who believed in this story awaited the verdict
But this is not disturbing to those who believe that only of the critics, who sometimes turned their thumbs upward,
a small num ber of our stories can be received critickly. We but more often proved their power by destroying the poor
could not live if w e w ere critickal about even a small supplicant w ith his first novel.
fraction of the stories we are told. The critic who no longer Unfortunately, the majority of literature in the world
believes the capitalist story probably still believes the does not fit this critical method. W hen m ost stories are
mythick stories of gravity, hum anity and fair play. The analyzed, they break down into a jum ble of m eaningless
critic who no longer believes in the Bible epickly or fragments that seem almost interchangeable with the frag­
mythickly probably still believes in the objective reality of ments of every other such story. To the critic who guards
bread and the causal relationship between chewing, swal­ the temple doors, such tales are plainly unworthy offer­
lowing and surviving. Because the critickal view is only ings at the altar, for they cannot be consumed by the
possible to the unbeliever, and all thought and language hungry horde of priests behind the curtain. It is dust on
depend ultimately upon unquestioned belief in something their tongues.
at some point, to regard the critickal view as divine is to
consign oneself forever to hell. Fantasy is one such sort of writing. Critics examine it
p a x s e 46 Is su e 81 W jS u C O C D e R 1 9 96 CQoonnose:
and find strong-thewed heroes saving damsels in distress, submits silently to torture and dismemberment.
magic rings and prophecies, dark forces opposing the bright
In Lord o f the Rings, the three characters of Frodo, Sam
light of goodness, and the critics say, "cardboard characters.
and Gollum are really three aspects of a single character.
Endless repetition of meaningless conventions. Hack writ­
Frodo is the superego, Sam the ego, G ollum the id. We
ing. Childish oversimplification of good and evil. Obviously
have the story firmly under control, for w e have renamed
written for the adolescent mind. Wish-fulfillment. Bourgeois
the characters to place them within a non-threatening tale.
and fascist and sexist and racist. Pure trash." And ah! the
most damning epithet of all: "Escapist." Or try this: The scene at the Cracks of Doom is the
temptation of Christ. The ring is Satan. Frodo is the sin of
The bourgeois, unpriestly reader leaves his dull world
pride, succumbing to Satan's offer of all the kingdoms of
of work and worry and escapes to a land of magic, where
the world. Gollum is the sins of the flesh, who used the
good and evil are clearly separated, w here he can pretend
ring for murder, theft and catching fish, and finally, in the
that he is the strong and fearless hero, where he doesn't
scene at the Cracks of Doom, it is no accident that Gollum
have to cope with reality. And since this reader does not
bites o ff Frodo's fin ger and then, in his trium ph, dances his
read deciphering meanings from the text, he is obviously
way backward into the fires of hell. Gluttony destroyed
not seeking truth, but rather avoiding thought. Only the
itself and Frodo, as the w ill to power, survived only be­
stupid or the lazy read it.
cause he was broken and maimed. O nly Sam wise, the
Thus the critic-priests tell a story about fantasy that person who was, significantly, untouched by the power of
explains away their inability to apply their method to it. the ring, emerges unscathed. And so we have an allegori­
Any work that cannot be coped with is disposed of. And cal reading which can be extended quite interestingly
so the critics have created their epick tale of good literature throughout the work.
clearly separated from bad literature, in which a few
We can search the Lord o f the Rings for patterns of
strong, heroic writers and critics stand against the evil,
imagery; we can decipher the m eaning of the different
swarming masses of subhuman intellect, hewing the mon­
races; we can talk at great length about the bourgeois
sters Fantasy, M ystery, Science Fiction, Gothic, Historical,
virtues affirmed by the scouring of the Shire, and argue
in order to rescue the virgin damsel Truth and take her
about whether Sam or Frodo was the figure m ost re­
safely home, where she m ay be raped at will.
warded. Yet is any of this what m ade Lord o f the Rings a
The tragedy is not that so many critics believe this story powerful experience to millions of readers?
and act it out, dressing up in their tweeds and sweaters to
Already, however, albeit with the best intentions in the
go quarrel about minor points of doctrine at MLA and
world, Lord o f the Rings is being required in college courses
other conferences. The tragedy is that those who are con­
and is undergoing just such critical treatments. I do not
demned by them, excluded by them, also tend to believe
resent this because there is som ething inherently bad
this story, and regard themselves as second-class citizens.
about critickal reading. On the contrary, there is an excite­
The result is that they either apologize for the stories they
ment to the rituals of criticism. It is an em otional experi­
love, deny those stories, or try pathetically to make those
ence to take pieces of the broken-up text and assemble
stories fit the standards of the critic-priests, who occasion­
ally, grudgingly, admit such works into the canon of minor them in a meaningful pattern. It is, in fact, a valid creative
act to tell such stories about stories, and I think this is why
works. But only after the "m eaning"of the work has been
safely detached and translated into discourse. And occa­ the critic-priests have survived so long. Anyone who has
sionally a work of fantasy is so important that it cannot be read the rhapsodies of Frank Kermode or the great sagas
ignored. Then the critics m ust work over the story unbid­ of Northrop Frye knows that within the com munity of
den, getting it under control as quickly and thoroughly as critic-priests there are powerful, true-seeming tales.
possible, lest too many readers discover that they have had The danger is not the fashionable critics' tale-telling,
a powerful experience that was far better than anything but in their insistence that these stories about stories be
the critic-priest ever gave them. believed, not as fictions, but as objectively true history. And
W e can see this process at work with The Lord o f the most critical com mentary is as helpful in understanding
Rings. The book was written by a formidable scholar, but stories as Genesis is in understanding the origins of life. It
he was not a critic-priest. He was a lover of old stories that is very lovely, but it doesn't account very w ell for all those
were told back when people willingly sat open-mouthed fossils. The epickal stories of the critic-priests, however
listening to tales of heroes. Saga, epic, myth, fairy tales — exciting they are in their own right, do not even begin to
and Tolkien set out to write just such a story. He declared explain what really happens in the experience of partici­
again and again that he detested allegory in all its forms, patory reading.
including modem symbolism. He was not writing meanings. Fantasy cannot be read critickly. It cannot be translated
He was telling a story. Of course, the critic-priests already into discourse. Its fit reader cannot rem ain aloof and de­
have an answer to that. Never listen to the writer, they say. tached from the story, searching for m eanings in the inter­
Only examine the text. Writers have an embarrassing way of stices of the tale. The fit reader of fantasy is not a spectator
scoffing at the critic's interpretations. The text, however, but a participant. Mythickly or epickly, the fit reader of
(D g o n n o R e Is s u e si W
J
0 »ucDcr>eR 1 9 9 6 P ^ c j e 47

fantasy attempts to believe, and if he does not believe, it is This is how we read, except that the events of the story
because he and the writer cannot com fortably dwell in the have already been edited by another person. The author's
sam e unconscious world, no t because fantasy itself is by absolute control over the written text translates into a great
nature unworthy. deal of control over our ordering of the events in the story.
W e edit the story unconsciously as we read, deciding what
The Act Of Reading is im portant and what is trivial, w hat is true and what is
In a sense, all reading is participatory in that it requires false, but to a considerable degree we w ill still be influ­
the reader to follow along the sentences and apprehend enced by the shapes the w riter has im posed on the tale.
the words. Readers are trained to recognize discrete sym­
Furtherm ore, the w riter's shaping of the w ork is also
bols as letters, and discrete groups of sym bols as words.
unconscious to a greater degree than critical theorists
The very fact that words are separated b y neat little spaces,
would like to admit. Even writers w ho follow a tight plan,
and sentences by universally agreed-upon marks, carries
controlling, as they think, every word, every gesture of a
its ow n meaning. But readers do not think about the
character, every m eaning of a line — even they are still, as
symbols they are reading while they are reading. They
human beings, trapped w ithin that set of beliefs that is
sim ply receive them , and unconsciously sort them out.
themself. For their decisions about what is true and im por­
Each sym bol-group arouses its ow n set of responses in the
tant, their selection of events, eventually com es down to
reader; but even then, it is n ot the w ords w e read, but the
what/eeZs im portant and w h a t feels true.
relationships betw een the words. O f m eans nothing by
itself. But add m ore and m ore words, and o/becomes ripe; In this unsortable storm of belief, there is no such thing
a reader receives o f differently because of its context, and as publicly verifiable truth, because there is no such thing
receives everything else in the sentence differently be­ as perfect com munication, and without perfect com m uni­
cause o f is there. cation there is no verification. The doctrines o f the critic-
priests are really an attem pt to surm ount this problem by
In receiving stories, we go through a sim ilar process. We
cutting story down to a m ore manageable thing: discourse.
are told of certain events, with a certain pattern of causal
Detached reading gives the reader the illusion of control
relationships am ong those events. Each event changes our
— the illusion that "good"w riters are in control of their
view of all other events. And, as with reading letters and
stories, the illusion that "good"readers can receive the
words, the overwhelm ing majority of those changes, those
m eanings of those works. In fact, how ever, a detached
relationships among events, are conceived unconsciously,
reading is not a reading of the story at all. The detached
uncontrolledly, and we never notice them at all.
reader is not allowing the writer to give him vicarious
This model of how we receive stories is remarkably m emory of events that w ere ordered by another hand.
similar to how we receive the events of our own lives. Instead, the detached reader is continually rebuilding the
Things happen; we act, others act. Each event is uncon­ events and language of the story into his ow n safe and
sciously assigned a causal relationship— either intentional, com fortable discourse, w hich he knows he can deal with
mechanical or random — to all other events. And from all because it is his alm ost unchanged self.
this we develop the unconscious but unquestioningly be­
This m ethod works. But it is, if you w ill forgive the
lieved story of die world that makes us who we are. W e call
term, escapist. The detached reader is escaping, not from
this "real life"as opposed to fiction, but in fact our own lives
that set of fictions called reality, but from that m ost dan­
are merely stories we have unconsciously told ourselves
gerous and fearful o f all things, the true story. The closest
about events. O ur self exists only in our m emory.
thing to true com m unication betw een tw o hum an beings
But it is m ore com plex than this. W e also hear the is story-telling, for despite his best efforts at concealment,
stories other people tell us about ourselves and about a writer will inevitably reveal in his story the world he
themselves. A child, engrossed in play, perform s a socially believes he lives in, and the participatory reader w ill for­
unacceptable behavior in his pants; his mother, who be­ ever after carry around in him self and as him self a m em ­
lieves certain tales about such things, says, "T hat's so ory that was partly controlled by that other hum an being.
filthy ,"and the child believes. "Y o u are so dum b,"and we Such m emories are not neatly sorted into fiction and real
believe. "Y ou are so beautiful,"and we believe. O ur very life in our minds. I know, of course, that I n ever stood at
self is constantly being revised according to our experience the Cracks of Doom and watched G ollum die. But that
and the stories others tell us. faith in the distinction betw een my ow n actions and the
actions of fictional characters is m erely another story I tell
This works in the other direction too. W e are constantly
myself. In fact, my m emory of that event is m uch clearer
revising our experiences according to that set of uncon­
and more powerful than my mem ory of m y fifth birthday.
scious beliefs we call our "self." W e believe som e stories,
we doubt others; we unconsciously decide some experi­ You see why the critic-priests m ust shun participatory
ences are im portant and rem em ber them, and decide oth­ reading, must deny it, must refuse it. Participatory reading
ers are trivial and forget them. Thus our self edits our puts your very self at risk. It will and m ust change who
experience of the world, and our experience of the world you are. This may be m uch of the reason w hy most people
revises ourself in unm easurable, unaccountable ways. never read stories at all after they leave adolescence. C on­
p A Q e 48 Is su e 81 W jS u C D C O e R 1 9 96 GDaGHHOSG
sciously or not, they do not wish to change, and so they were pivotal or seminal works? This is not to say that these
avoid an experience that will unavoidably change them. novels are not really important or true, merely that they de­
The critic-priest, with his detached reading, does precisely pend on the critical story about them for most of their readers.
the same thing. He avoids the experience of reading a Without that critical buttressing, most readers would give up
story, in exchange for the experience of affirming the story in despair by the time they reached James's thousandth
that he is a superior, elevated, fit, and above all non-bour­ comma or the second page, whichever comes first.
geois reader. It is a story that is not dissimilar to the story
In the genre of literary stories, the writers openly call
of the divine right o f kings or the infallibility of popes: It
for that same critical approval. And to attract it, they create
bestows power and privilege, provided that enough other
the illusion of im portance primarily through im itating the
people believe it. vices ofthe "great"novels. They make their works deliber­
O f course, not one, not even a critic-priest, really reads ately boring, put as much introspection between events as
everything critickly. The emotional impact of believed sto­ possible, and in short im itate the conventions and forms of
ries is at the heart of even the most detached of formal their genre to signal to the reader that this is a work which
criticism. Canonical texts are all right to believe. The may well meet with approval from the oracle. Also, the
bludgeon of detached reading is only used w ith full force literary genre writer often tries for obscurity, forcing the
against non-canonical stories — that is, against those very reader to probe for hidden meanings because there is no
stories which cannot possibly be comprehended by a detectable surface sense. In short, such works seduce the
critickal reader. It is a catch-22: To be read with belief, a reader into the rituals of critickal reading.
story must be admitted to the canon of great or good
The literary genre also sets up the illusion of truth. In
works; to be admitted to the canon, a story must be de­
the realistic novel, the writer spins a web of detail that
signed for critickal reading or already have such a strong
corresponds with verifiable contemporary experience.
claim to greatness that critickal interpretations have been
The reader recognizes these details and they keep him
forced upon it.
believing that what is going on h ere could happen in the
ion because it m ust be believed mythickly to have any real world, that it is true. In the self-conscious novel, the
value at all. But fantasy is hardly alone in that exclusion. narrative voice is either mocking or mocked, undercutting
All art that is, in H ulm e's definition, Romantic, and all belief by drawing the reader to an ironic platform from
fiction that is Romance, belongs outside the courts of the which author and reader together can despise error. This,
temple. Fantasy is certainly n ot identical with other sorts too, draws the reader into believing the author by accept­
of romance, or we would not be able to name the genre ing his choice of what to disbelieve.
and believe the name.
How are the illusions of im portance and the illusions
W e do not start out believing whatever the writer of truth created in fantasy? W here the realistic novel de­
throws at us in a story. Each genre and subgenre has its pends upon recognition of details of contemporary life, the
own way of inducing us— or seducing us— to keep reading fantasy writer has long depended on recognition of con­
long enough to believe. Importance and truth— that is ventional devices. Because the writer is invoking events
what we look for in all our reading of stories. W hen we that the reader has believed before, the reader is induced
reject a story we usually do it because it failed in one of to believe again. H owever, com petition with the novel has
those areas; because we did not believe it or because we forced the fantasy w riter to use both methods.
are bored. In coarser terms, we either say, "O h, yeah?"or
The conventions are still there, but a wealth of detail is
"So what?"
also provided. The detail in fantasy, however, does not
The writer, because he is telling a story that feels im ­ correspond with the contemporary experience. While the
portant and true to him, does not ask those questions of causal relationships among events are recognizable, the
himself. But the reader does not, a priori, agree with the details create a world that is changed in certain im portant
writer's assessment of what is important and true. There­ respects — the possibility of magic, the distance from the
fore the writer uses tricks to keep readers paying attention present time. Yet in the best realistic fashion, the m odem
for a while. Eventually the tricks break down, because they fantasy writer gives us so m uch detail that the story seems
are only illusions. Eventually the reader will decide, con­ to be taking place in a real world. This works only because
sciously or not, whether the story itself is true or im por­ the realistic novelist has taught readers to believe in de­
tant. But in the meantime, the tricks can keep working for tailed realities; but then, it was only necessary in fantasy
a long time. because the realistic novelist taught readers to expect de­
tail and doubt whatever did not have it.
In each genre there are ways of creating the illusion of
im portance and the illusion of truth. The critic-priests, in The illusion of truth, however, is not so im portant to
fact, provide one of the most powerful machineries for the fantasy reader as the illusion of im portance. The
sustaining an illusion of im portance. How many people critickal reader, in ridiculing fantasy, usually makes much
would choose to read Henry James or Virginia Woolf if no of the fact that the stories seem so pretentious. The charac­
one told them that The Ambassadors or To the Lighthouse ters and the narrator so often speak in a formal, elevated
GDucnnosG Is s u e 81 W jS u C D C D G K 1 9 9 6 p A < ? e 49

language — U rsula LeG uin even considers this essential. Does this m ean that all criticism o f fantasy is futile? O f
The stories always seem to be about a world-changing course not. W hat it m eans is that we m ust be aware that
struggle b etw een good and evil. A ll of civilization as we the fashionable critical paradigm s are com pletely in appro­
know it seem s to hang in the balance. priate to fantasy— and to most fiction that real people like
to read. The M odernist epick is an assertion o f pow er over
But those elem ents are n ot u niversal in recent fantasy.
all story-telling, and it m ust b e not ju st doubted b ut de­
M ost m odem fantasy sustains the illusion of im portance
stroyed, and not just destroyed but replaced. It w ould be
in other ways. O ne useful device, perhaps m ost effective
foolish to replace it with another map to be laid over stories
because this is a generally irreligious age, is ritual—not just
to "m ake sen se"of them. It is the idea that one m ust m ake
for magical purposes, b ut for purposes that can only be
sense o f stories at all that is harmful. Stories are sense, and
called worship or celebration. The cerem onial honoring of
do not need to have anything m ade of them at all. C ritickal
Frodo and Sam before King A ragorn is one such ritual, in
reading of m ost stories is unintelligent unless it follows a
which each of them, given a new nam e and a new story, is
genuine m ythick or epick reading: It is tim e to stop cred­
presented form ally to the people of the land for public
iting the criticism of those who have not read with belief.
honor. One thinks also o f the parallel scene in Star Wars
It is time to propose new canons of great literature, new
and the honoring of Thomas Covenant as a hero in his own
methods of critical approach, and new purposes to be
world after his return from the land.
accomplished in the exam ination of a text. The elitists have
Another device that sustains the illusion of im portance sneered at good stories w ithout any answ ering scorn quite
is one that troubles m any critics — the alm ost inevitable long enough.
cruelty of fantasy. V iolence alone is, indeed, an attention-
W hat sort of criticism is valid? Since every story is, in
getting device. But the cruelty of the m ost powerful fanta­
a way, a revolutionary act, and since stories can b e pow ­
sies goes beyond m ere blood and thunder. In G ene W olfe's
erful forces for changing individuals, they inevitably have
Shadow o f the Torturer, the scenes of death are all ritualized,
m oral force and can be dangerous. Any critic w ho reads a
and pain is a sacram ent; in Lord o f the Rings, too, Frodo is
story that is morally detestable to him has a perfect right
made holy by his suffering, and his dismemberment be­
to answer the story on those grounds. Since every writer
comes part of his name. Stephen Donaldson's leper, Thomas
has different strategies for handling the illusions of truth
Covenant, lives in a ritual of self-protection, in constant fear
and of im portance, it is appropriate for a critic to call
of unspeakable, insidious decay. There is something about
attention to stories that offend his personal taste. That is,
the ritualizing of suffering that makes it seem more impor­
after all, w hat I am doing right now. There is always room
tant. In the story of Christ, it matters less that Jesus died than
for critical response to stories, as long as it is understood
that he chose to die, that his death was important to other
that such responses are eccentric and w e do not allow any
people, that it was excruciating and slow, that it followed
one school of thought to have a privileged position— espe­
certain forms and certain words were said. A common form
cially not a school of thought stupid and arrogant enough
of execution was turned into a holy and im portant thing
to consign an exceptionally vital and pow erful literature
because of the way the story of it is given to us. These same
to oblivion. 1?
elements of ritualized cruelty are no less powerful in fantasy,
and so they are frequently invoked. ["Fantasy and the Believing Reader" first appeared in Science Fiction Re­
view vol. 11, no. 3, whole no. 44 (Aug. [Fall] 1982): 45-50. Rights to the
Behind the illusion of im portance however, fantasy article are held by Orson Scott Card.]
really is im portant to the believing reader. The point of
fantasy is not its novelty— the sam e conventions can be W orks Cited and C onsulted
"Bob's Books" Netscape. July 1995. Available at [email protected].
endlessly repeated because w hat matters is not the event,
Bratman, David. Internet memo. 15 June 1995.
but the way the events are fit together and the im portance
Card, Orson Scott. "America." Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
that is given to them b y the characters. Losing a finger is (January, 1987): 22-53.
unfortunate; Frodo's losing a finger is his personal re­ — "Author's Note: On Sycamore Hill." The Folk o f the Fringe. Bloomfield
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soon as I express it in words like that, I have paraphrased also "On Sycamore Hill."
— The Call o f Earth: Homecoming Volume 2. New York: Tor, 1993.
and turned it into discourse, and therefore removed its
— Capitol: The Worthing Chronicle. New York: Baronet/Ace, 1979.
effect. The power of fantasy is not in the fact that a sacrifice
— Earthbom: Homecoming Volume 5. New York: Tor, 1995.
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bers the experience o f sacrificing. W hat m akes the Riddle- — "Ender's Game." Analog (August 1977): 100-134.
master o fH ed im portant is not that there is an identity crisis — Ender's Game. New York: TOR, 1985.
when God turns out to be the devil, b ut that I the reader — "Fantasy and the Believing Reader." Science Fiction Review August,
remem ber experiencing the terror of that moment, with­ 1982): 45-50.
out com fortably nam ing it "identity crisis." It was myself — The Folk of the Fringe. 1989. New York: Tor, 1990.
— "The Fringe." The Mazazine o f Fantasy and Science Fiction (October,
at risk, m yself who suffered. And the very subjectivity of
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an expanded version in The Folk o f the Fringe. See "Author's Note: On 171-172
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— A Planet Called Treason. New York: St. Martin's 1979. Dream." Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought Vol 14, no 1 (Spring
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56-75
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continued from page23
— A Woman o f Destiny. New York: Berkeley, 1984. See also Saints. 6 It is perhaps significant that according to Greek myth, the spider was
— The Worthing Chronicle. New York: Ace, 1983. originally a woman who was turned into an insect for daring to
— Xenocide. New York: Tor, 1991. compete with Athena — the patron goddess of all "things devised by
Christopher, Joe R. C. S. Lewis. Boston: Twayne, 1987. mind or hand" — in her weaving ability (Atchity & Barber 25).
Clute, John. "C. S. Lewis." Science Fiction Writers. Ed. E. F. Bleiler. New 7 Although the oppositional relationship between Galadriel and Shelob
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Collings, Michael R. "Science and Scientism in C. S. Lewis's That Hideous explorations is Peter Damien Goselin's "Two Faces of Eve: Galadriel
Strength." Hard Science Fiction. Ed. George Slusser and Eric Rabkin. and Shelob as Anima Figures".
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