Page 141 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

History of English Literature

Notes

Notes In the context of being taken to an extreme, the word "escapism" carries a negative
connotation, suggesting that escapists are unhappy, with an inability or unwillingness
to connect meaningfully with the world.
However, there are some who challenge the idea that escapism is fundamentally and exclusively
negative. For instance, J. R. R. Tolkien, responding to the Anglo-Saxon academic debate on escapism
in the 1930s, wrote in his essay "On Fairy-Stories" that escapism had an element of emancipation in
its attempt to figure a different reality. C. S. Lewis was also fond of humorously remarking that the
usual enemies of escape were jailers.
Some social critics warn of attempts by the powers that control society to provide means of
escapism instead of actually bettering the condition of the people. For example, Karl Marx wrote
about religion as being the "opium of the people". Escapist societies appear often in literature. The
Time Machine depicts the Eliot, a lackadaisical, insouciant race of the future, and the horror their
happy lifestyle belies. The novel subtly criticizes capitalism, or at least classism, as a means of
escape. Escapist societies are common in dystopian novels; for example, in Fahrenheit 451 society
uses television and "seashell radios" to escape a life with strict regulations and the threat of the
forthcoming war.
German social philosopher Ernst Bloch wrote that utopias and images of fulfillment, however
regressive they might be, also included an impetus for a radical social change. According to Bloch,
social justice could not be realized without seeing things fundamentally differently. Something
that is mere "daydreaming" or "escapism" from the viewpoint of a technological-rational society
might be a seed for a new and more humane social order, as it can be seen as an "immature, but
honest substitute for revolution".

Task Write short note on Escapism.

Self Assessment
Fill in the blanks:
1. Romanticism is interpreted by Pater as the addition of the sense of strangeness to .................... .
2. As regards Shelley, the absence of interest in the middle ages may be explained by his
persistent .................... .
3. .................... was the pioneer in the psychological and artistic handling of the middle ages.
4. ...................., like most romantic poets, revelled in the past.
5. C.S. Lewis was also Fond of humorously remarking that the usual enemies of escape
were .................... .

17.3 Supernaturalism
Supernaturalism is the theological belief that a force or power other than man or nature is ultimate.
This supernatural force (God) regulates both man and nature, making both of them subordinate to it.
God as creator.
Man is considered to be higher than the rest of nature.
Supernaturalism is a belief in an otherworldly realm or reality that, in one way or another, is
commonly associated with all forms of religion. Evidence of neither the idea of nature nor the
experience of a purely natural realm is found among primitive people, who inhabit a wonder
world charged with the sacred power (or mana), spirits, and deities. Primitive man associates
whatever is experienced as uncanny or powerful with the presence of a sacred or numinous power;
yet he constantly lives in a profane realm that is made comprehensible by a paradigmatic, mythical
sacred realm.

134 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY