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Sc-Fi, Magic, Boomers, and Jung.
Why fantasy is exactly what we need.
This article caught me by surprise. I’m no literary critique and I don’t know much about the history of sci-fi nor will I pretend to. Rather, I’m an avid reader trying to get by in this world as it falls apart.
To give some context to how this article arose, a friend just texted “tell me one thing: why do you like the idea of magic in your stories?”
As I was responding to him Norman Spinrad’s opinion piece from Asimov was floating around in my head. With it was a deep-seated discomfort I’ve had brewing for years, the difference between gods and aliens.
The thoughts that erupted took on a Jungian form, an archetypal rebellion against fixed states, status quos, and the conservation of power.
We’re living in a sci-fi world and we’re suffering.
The unsatisfied yearning of the artist reaches back to the primordial image in the unconscious which is best fitted to compensate the inadequacy and one-sidedness of the present.
— Carl Jung, CW 15, Para 130.
I understand that at some point sci-fi was inspiring. It opened doors to new futures, could warn us of the dangers to come, and showed us beauty and wonder right around the…
