Eric the .5b ([info]point5b) wrote,
@ 2007-12-21 18:12:00
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Dumb Question - Does F Date Like SF?
Do works of fantasy tend to get dated after decades - or alternately, does fantasy written at different periods of time tend to have palpably distinct tendencies, tropes, and traits - like works of science fiction tend to?

I can read a SF short story or novel, and excepting those with obvious references to then-contemporary life, I believe I can make a decent guess of when the story was written, at least down to the decade. I haven't read remotely as much fantasy as SF, however, so I'm suddenly, inexplicably curious whether the same is possible for fantasy fans (with the same "ignoring obvious contemporary links" caveat when able).

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[info]bruceb
2007-12-22 06:41 am UTC (link)
Yes, fantasy dates in terms of its assumptions about what's normal or expected in social interactions, in particular. And there are fads and trends in setting riffs, justifications for magic, and so on.

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[info]wattj
2007-12-22 12:49 pm UTC (link)
The very best fantasy (and the very best sci-fi) is based on careful research into anthropology in particular... To write such things well, one must be able to take oneself out of the natural projection of one's environment into all extremes of time, location, and alternate reality. Generally, this is only achieved by those who are well-educated in just how different human life has been in the actual history of the world.

Bad fantasy dates almost instantly. The characters speak in contemporary language with the same patterns that the characters in sit-coms use, although they may not use the current slang and they may throw in the occasional Thee or Thou.

Good fantasy dates more slowly, and less perfectly. The big giveaways seem to be the approach to issues of race and gender... Although these are treated differently by different authors in a given period, a careful analysis will usually give a hint as to the environment against which the writer is reacting.

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