Bittercon: It's so Magical to be Homeless! The Romance of Urban Fantasy

[intertext]

This is really a lot of open questions and food for thought than a fully developed thesis. It just struck me, in my - admittedly somewhat limited - experience of urban fantasy, that the "urban" in "urban" seemed to reflect a somewhat limited and romanticized view of the "street."

Just to put my thoughts into a context here, my exposure to urban fantasy rests mostly on Charles De Lint, most of whose works I have read, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly and Neil Gaiman, whose Neverwhere I include in the genre. I would, or could, also include Justine Larbalestier's "Magic" trilogy and there are one or two others that I have forgotten. Amongst Emma Bull's work, I have read and enjoyed both War for the Oaks and her and Will Shetterly's Borderland novels, and my comments and questions here relate to all of those.

Anyway, it seemed that among these works, there is a common sympathy for and interest in the marginal, the scruffy, the downtrodden. Not that this group is in any way undeserving of sympathy or interest, but it struck me that these works definitely downplay the disadvantages of life among the disadvantaged and - yes - romanticize life for the homeless and the income-deprived. What I wonder is, is this some intrinsic part of a greater literary tradition? Are the authors riffing on folk-tales, whose heroes, if not princesses, tend to be clever thieves, disadvantaged or displaced innocents and so on? In some ways, what I'm asking is whether in fact this is the opposite side of the "Fantasy of Manners" coin - Fantasy of Bohemian Manners?

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere is the only somewhat anomalous example - its hero, if I remember, is an average guy who gets lost in a strange alternate or parallel world. And as far as that goes, I guess it's not really "about" magic or fantasy in an every-day urban setting. Does anyone write about magic among the stockbrokers? Or ER, except with magic?

Anyway - that's my pitch. Any thoughts?

Comments

[intertext.livejournal.com]

I hesitated over deleting your comments and do respect your wish and right to be heard. Perhaps the fact that you posted anonymously tipped the scales. It did occur to me to delete superfoo's comment, but perhaps my decision to leave it was coloured by the fact that she is a long time LJ friend and a friend in real life. I do recognize that her remarks might have been offensive to some (and obviously were to you) and I think she regrets them now.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sorry that my comment was so upsetting to you that you felt it needed to be removed. One of the aspects of urban fantasies such as de Lint's and the Bordertown series that I most respect is their advocacy of a group that is rarely heard and often maligned. I do understand the urge to do as you did and I very much suspected that your reason for your action was as you have stated. The difficulty is that you allowed a personal friendship to influence your decision to let one person be heard, while you censored another's comments, at least in part, because you didn't know them.

As I stated in the original post, my reason for being anonymous was to protect my husband's right to privacy. What I didn't say was that had the experiences been my own to relate, I would have posted openly. At this point, I'm very distressed and saddened by what's happened. I don't want to continue to post in this way; it feels very uncomfortable for me and probably for you as well. I wish you and your friend the best and am glad to see that the discussion is continuing.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

No - your comment wasn't upsetting to me; I sympathized and was sorry for your hurt, and hope I expressed that. I also respect your reasons for wanting to remain anonymous, but if I let one person's remarks stand because I happened to know that person and perhaps was able to understand where she was coming from, well, that's only human, too, and it is, as you said at the beginning, my journal :) I think my strongest feeling was simply that I wanted to stop the proliferation of a "yes it is/no it isn't" kind of exchange on a topic that didn't really fit the tone or content that's being discussed here. In fact, I see that superfoo has deleted her own comment, so I hope that will be an end to it.

I'm very sorry for your distress.