A Literary Journey: From Fantasy to Politics of Everyday Life

As a child, I had the privilege of a mother who strongly encouraged me to embrace books and gave me the freedom to find books that I personally found interesting. This meant that I skipped books which my peers were reading, such as the works of Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl. Instead, my growing up years were spent indulging in The Boxcar Children series by G.C. Warner, Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate and Spookville series by C. Pike. While I may not recall much about the content of these books, I fondly remember how Animorphs gave me wild fantasies of transformative powers and fighting crime by harnessing the strengths of various animals. What an awesome and cool concept! This probably triggered my initial interest in the fantasy and sci-fi genre, which would endure and develop till this day.

In my teen years, I had the pleasure of discovering 2 series of books which would solidify their place as my favourite books of all time. The lesser of these 2 series are The Lord of Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien, and these books truly filled me with wonder and fascination. I was thoroughly enthralled by the depth and richness of the plot, characters and narrative, and at the time, LOTR actually convinced me that elves and dwarfs existed. This was in large part due to the apparent 'authenticity' of the songs, maps, illustrations and appendix which I decided could not have been crafted if there was no original real life sources to base upon. Later, I would realize that that was the magic of Tolkien; his seminal works were so pivotal in the fantasy genre so much so that all future fantasy works seem to borrow their inspiration from LOTR.

Apart from Tolkien's books, my enduring favourite series is the Dune series by Frank Herbert. In my opinion, the Dune series does for the sci-fi genre, what LOTR did for the fantasy genre. This series captured my imagination with its sweeping imaginations of distant future worlds, warring houses, diverse factions, and more significantly, weaving in mature themes of politics, religion, philosophy, economics, culture, etc. I have read the series perhaps 3 times over, at different stages of my life, and every time I can still distill new insights which amaze me. Most recently, I realized that the theme of environmental politics is in fact salient and central to Dune, and this has strong resonance with contemporary issues of global climate change and biodiversity (issues I grapple with as a Geographer). How did Herbert envision this theme back in 1965, long before environmental politics had a formative discourse?

Another genre which came late to me, but left a lasting impact, is war literature. Introduced to me in my JC years, I have come to appreciate the diverse and complex politics of war through important books such as Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard, Regeneration by P. Barker, The Book Thief by M. Zusak, Red Badge of Courage by S. Crane, and the poetry works of Wilfred Owen and Edmund Blunden. In addition, the book Journey's End by R.C. Sheriff struck a deep emotional cord with me, despite its simplicity in form, setting and delivery as a play. Yet, the mundane horrors of war comes across effectively. There is no moral or grand narrative, only real emotions and perhaps that characterizes the post-structalist interpretations of war. 2 other books which expanded my literary horizon were The Things They Carried by T. O'Brien and Atonement by I. McEwan, which presented me with my first taste of the meta-fiction form. The concept of the meta-fiction was a revelation to me; the interweaving of fiction and reality was a novel feature which drew attention to a work's status as an artifact. This made me question the nature of literature, its ethical role and the issue of authenticity. In essence, these 2 books made me realize the potential for fiction to be more instructional and authentic than non-fiction.

This fascination with the meta-fiction technique was furthered by the latest book which made an impact on me, and that was Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. Apart from its interweaving of fiction and suggested autobiographical elements, this book presented me with a real and tangible example of literature as political critique and historical commentary. It was around the same time that I watched the movie Ararat, and the partnership of Rushdie's book and this movie helped push my appreciation for literature to a different level.

In the most recent times, I have unfortunately found reading to be a precious luxury that I often cannot afford. I have thus shifted my attention to more contemporary non-fiction academic commentaries. In lieu with my academic pursuits at the university level, my interests have led me to explore the many works of Michel Foucault, Susan Sontag's On Photography, and the books of Judith Butler (e.g. Gender Trouble and Bodies that Matter). Foucault's works in particular, has allowed a different and deeper appreciation of literature, by recognizing the disciplinary power of discourse and its embedded role in literature. This knowledge has made me more critical and analytical of literature works that I have encountered.

In a sense, my literary journey began with encounters of the fantasy realm - situations, characters and action of far, distant and made up worlds. It then shifted to more contemporary and tangible themes of war and interplay between reality and fiction. Finally, its focus has shifted to issues revolving around the politics of everyday life - that is, the questioning of how society functions and the powers that determine change.