![]() ![]() Gopnik also presents an interesting theory for why certain people become fantasy fans. I do find this in good fantasy books, but I can also find it in certain video games (currently thinking of Fallout, the GTA series, Grim Fandango), some science fiction novels and series, a few serialized TV dramas, and occasionally literary fiction. As I've repeatedly noted, this is one of my favorite thing in the world: when someone does such a good job at this, and manages to make a fully-realized world that feels believable and livable, which operates by its own internally coherent set of principles, where I can imagine hundreds of stories taking place in addition to the one I'm currently reading. Tolkien was the master at this, but almost all modern fantasy pays a great deal of attention to sketching out the details of its own private fictional world: the species, the cultures, the rules for magic, the history of kingdoms, wars, famines and booms. The answer, he explains, is that fantasy doesn't primarily offer a story: it primarily offers a world. He comes to this realization organically: he initially notes that the writing in these books is often quite poor, and wonders why fans are so passionate about them. ![]() I'll jump to the good part first: I think that Adam Gopnik absolutely nails the appeal and value of fantasy to its most devoted fans. (The article is already several weeks old, so it will probably be disappearing behind a paywall soon.) I'm always pleased when fantasy is taken seriously by the press, especially a publication like The New Yorker, but reading the article made me reflect on a few things. I recently read an article in The New Yorker that was ultimately about the Eragon series of young-adult fantasy novels, but touched on fantasy in general and some of my favorite authors in particular. This is more of a mini-rant / unhelpful lecture than anything. You have a little under a year until the world ends, so if you'd like to give it a shot, now's the time! This is a strange book, in keeping with the previous two, but definitely worth reading. As usual, much of what Hodgman writes about himself is fiction, but particularly at the beginning and the end, he reflects a great deal about the success that he's found in life (through the earlier books, his role on the Apple commercials, and stints as a character actor on TV shows), what parts of it have changed him, in what ways it's been transient or fleeting, etc. There's also a strong autobiographical slant to the book. (This part is very reminiscent of the Hobo-focused lists of Areas of My Expertise, but way more disturbing, which remaining mostly funny.) However, it also includes an astonishing number of pages listed to enumerating the names of the Ancient and Unspeakable Ones. The body of the book covers much more ground, including hilarious bits on foreign etiquette, ocean cruises, types of wine, and so on. These are often short, just a sentence of two (Jonathan Franzen delivering a mysterious manilla envelope to a Hollywood celebrity, for example), but they often accumulate over multiple days and weeks into fairly epic stories and, all the stories together create the horrifying, tragic picture of the world rushing towards annihilation. Every single page has a section from "TODAY IN RAGNAROK", an Almanac-ish prediction of what will happen on that day. (Arguably, it's actually over on the 20th, but technically Ragnorak itself happens on the 21st after the human race and most of the planet has been extinguished.) A lot of the book deals with the end times. Where the first two books summarized all existing world knowledge, That Is All completes all world knowledge, by explaining everything that happens between now and the end of the world, which will happen on December 21st, 2012. ![]() The book follows the same general form as John Hodgman's two earlier compendiums of knowledge, "Areas of My Expertise" and "More Information than You Require." They tend to read a bit like almanacs, with a collection of short pieces offering advice, or relaying anecdotes, or categorizing certain items, or whatever. It includes long lists that tend to be amusing as snippets, and hilarious in aggregate. It doesn't really have a plot, except that it does. It's a funny book, but many of the most memorable parts come from a very dark and disturbing Cthulhu-inflected mythos. " That Is All" is an excellent book, but really hard to write about. ![]()
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