Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookpossum
I'm starting to feel sorry for Margaret Atwood! If you take this to its logical extreme, does any work of fiction serve a real purpose?
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Despite the fact that I did not enjoy the book, there is no doubt that Margaret Atwood is an accomplished author and her success is certainly not undeserved. You can't please everyone.
I think fiction clearly does serve a purpose for most of us, though, as gmw pointed out, there are some who don't see any purpose and therefore don't read it. Primarily I want my fiction to entertain me. To interest me. To catch and hold my attention. I read fiction for enjoyment, and for me it should serve this purpose at least.
But there are other purposes that fiction can serve. I like fiction that makes me think. This can be about ideas I have not considered, or a new approach to ideas that I have. It may challenge my existing ideas or beliefs. Fiction can often be surprisingly informative and even educational. I suspect I learnt far more about the ancient Roman republic from Colleen McCullough's excellent Roman series than I ever did in Ancient History in High School, and in a far more entertaining way. Teacher's generally teach dry facts. Fiction writers can make us see other cultures and viewpoints in a way presenting the bare facts cannot. Good Science Fiction exploring fictional societies explore aspects of our own, and prompt our thinking about some of these aspects. Even the most straight-forward adventure tales without any pretension whatsoever may give insights or at least prompt thoughts about "the human condition".
Not all purposes, of course are transparent or necessarily good. Amazon informed me today that Hugh Howey has a new anthology comprising stories set in a future we don't want, written by authors with a passion about the topic. Essentially liberal authors horrified by Trump. Some will love this, of course. Some will hate it. And some, like myself, will not be moved to read it any more than I would a book of pro-Trump stories. I'm just sick of the whole topic and as a result will probably miss out on some good stories. In Palestine, children are taught hatred with fiction. After the Satanic Verses fatwa was issued, middle eastern audiences were treated to movies where the faithful killed Salmon Rushdie in all sorts of horrific ways. Fiction is of course an essential tool of the propagandist. And also, in fact, of anyone who wants to argue a point of view, particularly on an emotional level rather than a logical one. People turn to fiction for all sorts of reasons. Validation. Escapism. Even social.