I was just getting too old for comics when Sabraman came out in Israel. He was awesome and got the chicks, too.
Posted on 05/03/2010 1:16:39 PM PDT by Borges
Do you have any examples of “Magical Realism” that are specifically Catholic?
Wrong . . . The Black Panther is not an American. . . he’s the only one I can think of, but he is a native of Africa-like our President. :)
All of the MR novels that I’ve read (Pedro Paramo, One Hundred Years of Solitude, House of the Spirits, Master and the Margarita) were written by lapsed Catholics in the first three cases, and a lapsed Orthodox Christian in the last case. I can’t think of an MR novel that is explicitly Catholic, unfortunately.
“commercial fantasy is deeply rooted in Anglo-Saxon, English-language legends and myths.”
Yes, that was exactly what I was thinking. It is not so much inherently Christian as it is inherently English. Tolkien’s Roman Catholicism and Lewis’s liturgical Anglicanism allowed for great drama in the religious service. Even their fellow writer, Dorothy L.Sayers, indicated that the “dogma is the drama” in the Church. Of course, this type of perspective does not sit well with Christians for whom all these mythical type figures are just reworked pagans. Thanks for the thoughts.
Funny that Tolkien wrote from a compulsion that there was a dearth of English mythology. He “borrowed” quite liberally from numerous non-Anglo sources. Not to disparage his works-he is one of my favorites, but he would be the first to admit that his whole-cloth “mythology” was composed from time-worn patchwork.
His own work, and some of Lewis’s, often blur the distinction between fantasy and mythology. However, neither set out to supplant the truth of Scripture with their fantasies. The sensational adaptation of their works and their adoption by the masses is reflection the modern hunger for truth, but a denial of the ultimate Truth’s reality. Lewis’s treatise on the harm to Christianity by gentility is more apropos by the moment. For they hold to a image of the truth while denying its power.
LOL!
Wolverine is Canadian, the whole Alpha Flight team actually is Candien. A bunch of he New Mutants are from all over including Brazil and Ireland. then there was the British X team. Most are American, of course most of the books are for American audiences.
Don’t forget about Superman...
I could never get into Mark Twain’s stuff. I know he was a pioneer in his style and all that, but I don’t like dialect writing. I love Winston Churchill, though.
“Tolkein repeatedly attacked these attempts to impute meaning into his work . . .”
True, but to be fair, even he might not really know why he wrote it. Or he might have personal reasons for not wanting to admit his purpose.
He fought in some horrendous fighting in WWI, and lost all but one of his friends. WWI screws this guy up royally, then he writes a book that clearly dissects what is wrong with Europe? Tolkien can deny it all he wants,,, but it’s pretty clear.
His denials are probably for his own tortured reasons,,,,
IE,, an artist does a ton of Church hating art. You find out his dad beat him every week for not memorizing the bible or some such. No matter how much the artist denys that as the reason for his topics,,, it’s fair and correct to make the association. Happens all the time.
I don’t remember reading anything of Joel Rosenberg’s.
I always found it interesting that a big “bad guy” of Marvel Comics was Magneto -— himself a victim of the Shoa, parents killed by Nazis.
It f—ked Magneto up pretty well.
I understand this. I’m pretty f—ked up by the Shoa, and it was my grandparents.
As many people have pointed out, the story of Superman’s origins is analogous to the story of Moses, and his transition from the “vaguely Hebraic” Kal-El to the more WASP-sounding Clark Kent is like a story of Jewish assimilation. So this is a work of fantasy that is a little bit Jewish, if not “profoundly” so.
Creted by a Jewish guy, but Superman himself was Methodist.
(I know this because his mother always cooked chicken.)
One exception proves the rule. If you had to bet a paycheck on the national identy of any cape-wearing superhero,, you’d be crazy to bet anything but American.
Of course the comic books are mostly for Americans. How are you going to sell a book anywhere else that features truth, justice and the American way?
All these other ersatz superheroes are nothing more than attempts to ape Batman, Superman, etc,,, Point me to a foreign superhero that existed in the 1940s. “Me too’s” for the ‘60s are clearly guilt inspired ,,,”oh yeah,, we probably need a superhero too” things.
It is not only that Jews are ambivalent about a return to an imaginary feudal past. It is even more accurate to say that most Jews have been deeply and passionately invested in modernity, and that history, rather than otherworldliness, has been the very ground of the radical and transformative projects of the modern Jewish experience. This goes some way towards explaining the Jewish enthusiasm for science fiction over fantasy (from Asimov to Silverberg to Weinbaum there is no dearth of Jewish science fiction writers
It's not that it's impossible to write both fantasy and hard SF/alternative history. There are examples of writers who have done it (Poul Anderson, Gordon Dickson, Mary Gentle, Rudyard Kipling, Elizabeth Moon), but offhand I can't think of any of Jewish background who have done so.
Just as those of Jewish background tend to gravitate towards progressive politics, they seem to avoid contemplating a non-technological culture that is never going to become the shiny Star Trek universe.
“but I don’t like dialect writing.”
Well,,,I meant something other than his Huck and Tom works. It’s a practical absurdity to say you can detect dialect in Twain, but not in Winston Churchill. He clearly has dialect too,,,
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