Subversion of the Real

The main intent of the 'fantastic' or gothic text is to subvert what is universally accepted to be the 'real'. That is, fantasy and gothicism are tools by which a writer can attack, interrogate and analyze the components of the realist social order. Although the form of subversion may differ between discourse, the underlying 'exposure' and 'defeat' of what the reader considers to be realism is a constant objective. This is demonstrated by an analysis of the principle dynamics; in particular, three strategies (summarily - use of the supernatural; approaches to issues that are taboo, and; focalization) employed in; three different tales. These tales being: The Changeover by Margaret Mahy; and two stories chosen from The Picador Book of The New Gothic; Anne Rice's Freniere and The Smell by Patrick McGrath.

The first strategy involves the use of the supernatural, as a 'representative' of the fantastic, to subvert realism by providing an alternative explanation to the current scientific paradigm that dominates the 'construction' of modern reality. That is, use of the supernatural is incompatible with the method by which today's society defines and explores what is real and what is not. It suggests that something else governs the working of things other than the conventional explanations and forces of nature we have come to recognize in scientific endeavors and rational analysis. This is a fearsome suggestion in that it hints at the possibility that man may not know exactly what is going on, what caused it, or, more importantly, how it can be controlled.

Control doesn't seem to be a concern in The Changeover, but it is a control that has to be worked for, at a cost, and with the presence of an element of danger. Laura Chant may once again gain some control over the world, and the events that effect her and her ailing brother Jacko, but only if she embraces a whole new paradigm. She must let go of the real and accept that the realm of the supernatural exists. She must cross over into a different world, the world of infinite possibilities, which in itself exposes the limitations of the real.

Similarly, Freniere suggests that supernatural and fantastic forces are at work beyond our control that threaten to overcome us should we be 'chosen'. Vampires walk amongst the real, Lestat walks amongst us, preying upon the narrow minded. And yet, they are not monsters, they are not beneath us, but in fact are often possessing characteristics and powers far better than mortal man's. We have once again lost control to an undercurrent of dark forces, which itself requires its own 'crossing over' to become a part of. A 'dark gift' to be imparted upon those willing to accept that man is no longer in possession of a complete control over his own world. He is prey to forces beyond his comprehension if he continues to accept the 'current' notion of the real. His mind can be read, his blood can be taken, he can live beyond death, he can die to truly live. All these notions are of a fantastic, a supernatural, origin. Not only is our idea of what life itself is challenged, but death also. Death suddenly becomes an alternative reality, beyond everyday existence and mortality, rather than a cessation of the real (an end to life). Death, a natural presence already accepted by conventional reality as 'real' (it happens, it exists), is suddenly reality's undoing.

The Smell also highlights the use of the supernatural in providing an alternative explanation for what occurs, and thereby presenting the notion that something beyond what we can grasp or understand has a direct influence upon the world around us. A terrible smell, which does not present any 'real' explanation alluding to it's source, is later revealed to be a premonition of things to come. A man receives a supernatural warning that his own death is at hand, by his own hand. Again, man has lost control and only once enveloped in the supernatural circumstances themselves is a realization, a reshuffling of what is considered to be real, brought about.

The second strategy employed is the approach to issues of death and sexuality in the realm of the fantastic. These are topics not 'normally' discussed openly, and so by exploring them and bringing them out in the open we are saying something about why they may need to be secreted away in the first place. We could say that perhaps here are two more instances where man may have no control, and may again be reminded that she is subject to the rules of the 'physical' world. Which itself raises the question of "If man wishes to deny that death and sex exist within the everyday 'realist' world, and that he himself is not controlled by the external forces that he nevertheless acknowledges in secret, then what exactly is her concept of the real? Is everyday reality itself a denial of various unavoidable occurrences that have a direct influence on, and are perhaps initiated by, man himself? Then is the realist vision actually real? Again, it seems that something else, something beyond the real that man does not readily acknowledge, has a direct influence upon his very existence. Freniere and The Smell both explore death to a great degree but from different perspectives. but both seem to be suggesting that death has a direct influence upon the affairs of the living. Similarly, Freniere and The Changeover provide instances in which an embrace of the darker or mysterious nature of mankind (in fact, both Laura and the Vampire are not 'men' at all, and become defined as thus), in acceptance of a 'new' sexuality in vampirism or in the sexual maturation of Laura Chant from girl to woman acknowledge another primitive undercurrent that 'rules over' realism.

The last strategy is the use of character focalization in order to integrate the reader into a new world and encourage an acceptance of this construction. This may seem a conservative notion at first, a dip into a frightening world from which we retreat upon the closing of the book, but consider what it implies. The reader, especially in a first-person narrative, is aligned with a single consciousness, a singular reality. It is the acceptance of the characters point of view on the readers behalf that seeks to highlight the subversive notion that reality itself is an entirely individual construct. That is, that perspective is in fact the source of reality, rather than reality being the source of perspective. One persons reality may be completely different to anothers, and it is this notion that acts as an element of the fantastic, that is, an element of fantasy, in that it suggests that there is no reality, only singular minds. It is no longer easy to draw a clear comparison between the reality of the mind and what is actually 'real', if indeed such a comparison exists. Narratives such as these can be described as mimetic, which in the words of Rosemary Jackson, means "...(n)arratives which claim to imitate an external reality".

Freniere aligns the reader with a vampire(!), and yet the world, the reality, described by Louis (the vampire) seems plausible. It is this that defines the last strategy - a blurring of reality and fantasy so that either category no longer remains distinct in the eyes of the reader. The fantastic and the real are no longer two different things.

In the same fashion, The Smell seeks to align the reader with the principle character, and after laying the foundations by introducing elements of the conventional 'reality', begins to diverge into the fantastic. Some readers may actually feel more discomfort towards the notion of the principle character dealing out 'punishment' to his family than the notion of a smell from 'beyond the grave'.

Again, after focalizing upon the character of Laura Chant, we are taken on a fantastic trip which becomes the new and accepted reality for the reader. John Stephens says in Language and Ideology in Children's Fiction :

"...at least for the duration of the reading time, the reader's own selfhood is effaced and the reader internalizes the perceptions and attitudes of the focalizer."

The fictional construct of the novel is now adopted as the new reality by the reader, who has internalized another perception of the world, and thereby taken on a completely different reality. This enforces the notion that realism is an entirely individual perception of the world...as we know it.

The literature of the fantastic, particularly in its subversive quality, may be the truest form of literature around in considering the ideas and ideologies it constructs and attacks. Consensus reality is something that we need to be critical of, and literary forms such as this seek to highlight that by providing comparisons and distortions of what reality is supposed to be. For if 'truth lies in the eye of the beholder', and so does reality, who is to say what is truthfully real and what isn't?

"Just follow the yellow brick road to The Musings of Dan"
or
"The Truth Is Out There...I also saw some in The Lair of Dan"