Should novels go beyond mere entertainment?

Read my thoughts on today's question, then check out today’s writing prompt at the bottom of this post.

I get the appeal of wanting to read a novel to escape into a world vastly different from the chaotic one in which we live. However, part of me wonders if that's actually possible, seeing as how the novels we read are written by people who do live in the real world. Or did once, anyway. Which means that those novels will inevitably be ‘tainted’ or influenced with the politics and concerns of the real world in which we live whether we want them to be or not. So, even a seemingly purely entertaining read contains multitudes and stances on politics and culture and relationships, etc., even if only by way of what it omits, as it is read and written and experienced in the real world. 

Hear me out. 

Even the sci-fi novels and fantasy novels we read tell stories of the haves versus the have-nots, stories of war and revenge, stories of discovery and heartbreak, stories of injustice and triumph, and so on. And aren't they based on our real world, or what we want to know or change about our world, to a certain extent anyway? We would not write about war, even for entertainment, if it did not exist and if we didn't have feelings about it. We would not write about unrequited love either, if that also didn't exist. And to some extent one could argue that even the magic we write about, or the things that can't be explained by science yet, also exist in the real world. No? 

I keep hearing people say that they want to keep politics out of reading and that they never read anything political. And I say that's impossible. I also keep hearing people say that they read to escape the world. And I say that's also impossible. Why? Because the books you read were written by people in the real world. What they include and omit from their books makes up their view of the world and their stance on the people in it, or who were once in it. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

There is something wonderful about writing and reading about a world in which women run kingdoms and magic can vanquish evil, or a piece of forgotten history or people are revealed, or people fall in love and stay in love against all odds, while affection and honesty and integrity are valued and reign supreme. But those books reveal an author's politics and outlook of the world. They reveal whether there is hope and freedom or complete carnage and bitter destruction, whether there are diverse people who look and act differently from one another and thrive or not, whether women can be heroes or heroes can be lovers, and so on.

All books contain their own politics and identities because they are microcosms of each author's mind and language and sense of the world in which they live (each author's politics and identity). And those books influence each reader and their sense of the world and how they perceive others too, as they also bring their own identities and politics and sense of the world to what they read. 

Simply being alive and existing in this world with others, and having an identity created by both of those facts, makes up one's identity and politics. No living human is exempt from having a political identity or from living in the real world. Even thinking you can abstain from engaging in societal concerns and moral concerns that involve others is a political stance. As Aristotle said once, man is by nature a political animal. But I can write more about that another day…

For now, in answering today's question, I would say that all novels go beyond mere entertainment regardless of their content or who wrote them, if you’re truly and fully paying attention to them and everything and everyone they include, as well as everything and everyone they exclude. And the latter might just be more important to consider than the former for a multitude of reasons. 

What do you think about this topic? Leave a comment to join this dialogue, then share this post with others so they can join the dialogue too.

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Today’s Writing Prompt