#utopian literature

[blueheartbooks]

"Utopia Unveiled: Navigating Sir Francis Bacon's 'The New Atlantis' – A Prophetic Odyssey into Tomorrow's Science and Society"

Sir Francis Bacon's "The New Atlantis" is a thought-provoking utopian work that takes readers on a captivating journey to the mythical island of Bensalem. With a unique blend of scientific foresight, philosophical depth, and literary finesse, Bacon weaves a narrative that is as intellectually stimulating as it is imaginatively rich.

At the heart of this utopian tale is the House of Salomon, a scientific institution dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment. Bacon introduces readers to a society where science, reason, and progress reign supreme, creating a utopia that stands as a beacon of hope for a world in need of intellectual and moral rejuvenation.

One of the most striking aspects of "The New Atlantis" is Bacon's prophetic vision of scientific advancement. Published in 1627, Bacon's work predates the scientific revolution, yet it anticipates many of the technological marvels and scientific breakthroughs that would follow. His portrayal of Bensalem as a society embracing empirical inquiry and technological innovation is eerily prescient.

Bacon's narrative style is both engaging and instructive. The use of first-person narration adds a personal touch to the exploration of Bensalem, allowing readers to connect with the characters and their experiences. The vivid descriptions of the island, its inhabitants, and their way of life create a tapestry of utopian ideals that captivates the imagination.

"The New Atlantis" is not merely a work of fiction; it is a philosophical exploration of the relationship between knowledge, power, and societal progress. Bacon challenges readers to contemplate the ethical implications of scientific advancement and the responsibilities that come with wielding such knowledge.

While the narrative unfolds seamlessly, Bacon embeds profound philosophical reflections on topics ranging from the role of science in society to the moral responsibilities of the intellectual elite. His insights remain relevant, inviting readers to ponder the ethical dilemmas posed by the unbridled pursuit of knowledge.

In conclusion, "The New Atlantis" stands as a literary gem that transcends its time, offering readers a timeless exploration of utopian ideals and the complexities of scientific progress. Bacon's visionary work challenges us to reflect on the moral and ethical dimensions of our pursuit of knowledge, making it a must-read for anyone intrigued by the intersection of science, philosophy, and human nature.

Sir Francis Bacon's "The New Atlantis" is available in Amazon in paperback 10.99$ and hardcover 17.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 75

Language: English

Rating: 9/10                                           

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

#Utopian Literature #Scientific Utopia #Sir Francis Bacon #Philosophical Fiction #Renaissance Literature #Atlantis Allegory #Ideal Society #Scientific Progress #Knowledge and Wisdom #Experimental Science #Enlightenment Thought #Societal Harmony #Intellectual Exploration #Technological Advancements #Social Innovation #Island Nation #Moral Governance #Knowledge Societies #Interdisciplinary Wisdom #Ethical Progress #Intellectual Discovery #Utopian Vision #Cultural Enlightenment #Scientific Revolution #Future Societal Models #Empirical Knowledge #Human Progression #Philosophical Legacy #Societal Transformation #Renaissance Humanism

[blueheartbookclub]

"Utopia Unveiled: Navigating Sir Francis Bacon's 'The New Atlantis' – A Prophetic Odyssey into Tomorrow's Science and Society"

Sir Francis Bacon's "The New Atlantis" is a thought-provoking utopian work that takes readers on a captivating journey to the mythical island of Bensalem. With a unique blend of scientific foresight, philosophical depth, and literary finesse, Bacon weaves a narrative that is as intellectually stimulating as it is imaginatively rich.

At the heart of this utopian tale is the House of Salomon, a scientific institution dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment. Bacon introduces readers to a society where science, reason, and progress reign supreme, creating a utopia that stands as a beacon of hope for a world in need of intellectual and moral rejuvenation.

One of the most striking aspects of "The New Atlantis" is Bacon's prophetic vision of scientific advancement. Published in 1627, Bacon's work predates the scientific revolution, yet it anticipates many of the technological marvels and scientific breakthroughs that would follow. His portrayal of Bensalem as a society embracing empirical inquiry and technological innovation is eerily prescient.

Bacon's narrative style is both engaging and instructive. The use of first-person narration adds a personal touch to the exploration of Bensalem, allowing readers to connect with the characters and their experiences. The vivid descriptions of the island, its inhabitants, and their way of life create a tapestry of utopian ideals that captivates the imagination.

"The New Atlantis" is not merely a work of fiction; it is a philosophical exploration of the relationship between knowledge, power, and societal progress. Bacon challenges readers to contemplate the ethical implications of scientific advancement and the responsibilities that come with wielding such knowledge.

While the narrative unfolds seamlessly, Bacon embeds profound philosophical reflections on topics ranging from the role of science in society to the moral responsibilities of the intellectual elite. His insights remain relevant, inviting readers to ponder the ethical dilemmas posed by the unbridled pursuit of knowledge.

In conclusion, "The New Atlantis" stands as a literary gem that transcends its time, offering readers a timeless exploration of utopian ideals and the complexities of scientific progress. Bacon's visionary work challenges us to reflect on the moral and ethical dimensions of our pursuit of knowledge, making it a must-read for anyone intrigued by the intersection of science, philosophy, and human nature.

Sir Francis Bacon's "The New Atlantis" is available in Amazon in paperback 10.99$ and hardcover 17.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 75

Language: English

Rating: 9/10                                           

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

#Utopian Literature #Scientific Utopia #Sir Francis Bacon #Philosophical Fiction #Renaissance Literature #Atlantis Allegory #Ideal Society #Scientific Progress #Knowledge and Wisdom #Experimental Science #Enlightenment Thought #Societal Harmony #Intellectual Exploration #Technological Advancements #Social Innovation #Island Nation #Moral Governance #Knowledge Societies #Interdisciplinary Wisdom #Ethical Progress #Intellectual Discovery #Utopian Vision #Cultural Enlightenment #Scientific Revolution #Future Societal Models #Empirical Knowledge #Human Progression #Philosophical Legacy #Societal Transformation #Renaissance Humanism

[titusandronicusonice]

For where in the older society (as in Marx's classic analysis) Utopian thought represented a diversion of revolutionary energy into idle wish-fulfilments and imaginary satisfactions, in our own time the very nature of the Utopian concept has undergone a dialectical reversal. Now it is practical thinking which everywhere represents a capitulation to the system itself, and stands as a testimony to the power of that system to transform even its adversaries into its own mirror image. The Utopian idea, on the contrary, keeps alive the possibility of a world qualitatively distinct from this one and takes the form of a stubborn negation of all that is.

Fredric Jameson, "Marxism and Form" (1971)

#fredric jameson #marxism #literature #utopian fiction

[bormgans]

ANTARCTICA - Kim Stanley Robinson (1997)

Kim Stanley Robinson probably is my favorite author, as recurrent readers of this blog might know. I have now read all of his novels – except for what is generally perceived as his magnum opus, the Mars trilogy, and 2018’s Red Moon – which I started but did not finish. Antarctica is – like all of his other novels – unique in his oeuvre: Robinson never writes the same book twice. At first sight it…

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#1990s #analysis #Antarctica #CliFi #Ethics #Kim Stanley Robinson #Literature #Review #science as utopian praxis #Science Fiction

[futuristicsaladgardener]

"We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future...." He was going to say 'future World controllers," but correcting himself, said 'future Directors of Hatcheries,' instead.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (page 13)

#english literature #Aldous Huxley #book quotes #daily quotes #english class #“utopian” future #Brave New World

[emmabee14]

Dystopia To Walk Away From and Utopia To Walk Towards

Utopia is an idea to keep striving towards, Utopia is the fight for a better world. To deconstruct ideas about the ways we live, to consider how we can improve to make this society a place where everyone can thrive. Where we can thrive. Needs met, not at the expense of others. Neither hyper-individualism nor carelessness for one but An ever-progressing stride towards Care for all.

-

I don’t dream of cyber-punk bars, of a silver planet, or a home on Mars. I don’t dream of a castle in the sky, I dream of my hands in the dirt and that glint in your eyes. I don’t dream of a sea full of ships, But I do in some ways and that’s the Problem with it. With what? With what we’ve got here, with the path we’re on track for The rules we adhere To the nonsense and some sense and a little of both. It’s so confusing, so much, So overwhelming for most.

And I fall into the sugary traps, The little white lies and the salty sweet snacks. The lies that, to be more myself I must Buy it, Buy me, Throw me in a landfill Once I’m done being it. And when I want another me I’ll order it, delivered to my house.

I’m usually a sugar-coater Hidden metaphor kind of poet not Outright saying anything but hoping that you’ll get it. And maybe that’s all that makes a poet, someone with some rhythm That moves ideas, streamlined from the ocean Into an order that feels sort of divine, Where maybe something someone somewhere saw will come into your mind.

Because right now, we are Dividing the people, Multiplying the fear. Me. I. Am. Different, separate, special, Shutting away into solitary instead of solidarity. Always needing more, Never, ever enough.

And I think I Take issue with that, Take issue maybe with distraction. Immense, mass distraction. Hyper-individualized distraction, Consumer-friendly distraction, Add to cart, confirm credit card distraction. “Buy you to be you” taken to dystopian extremes. Absolutely, we create our own avatar but That’s not the point of the game.

-

And maybe somewhere along the line something changes, Maybe people see each other more, Maybe people see we’re not so different And want equity for all, in order to reflect that. Maybe people see where their food and plastic and plastic food comes from And want better, demand better, for everyone. Maybe it all crumbles. Maybe there is no choice but change. Maybe it happens very slowly, Maybe suddenly it rains And pours and next thing we know-

Up and out and onto the next. Slower now, more mindful Faster now, more opportunist.

The need for techno-escapism dissolves as technology becomes tools for the world, not the world itself. As this web of humanity becomes a more welcoming, helpful, human place. As Earth becomes greener, not grayer, A better field for every player. As self detaches from material, As hands meet hands meet Earth.

A sprout of this into a bloom of that. Growth over greed, Love over fear, Connection over consumption, And One over one. Roots over leaves, but Tenderness for the whole tree.

#poetry #poem #wrote this for a class about utopian literature #its a bit rough and I'll probably work it more but yeah #utopia #dystopia #work in progress

[russianreader]

In One Hundred Years

In One Hundred Years

In One Hundred Years (A New Year’s Fantasy) On the eve of the new year of 2023, the Great Worldwide Soviet Republic communicated by radio with the nearest republic on the planet of Mars, inviting delegates from the latter to a celebration and receiving, in turn, an invitation from the Martian Republic. Earth assigned a total of 415,000 delegates from its five parts, while Mars assigned 630,000…

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#Article 58 (RSFSR Criminal Code) #Great Terror #Krasnaya Zvezda (newspaper) #Lenin cult #New Year&039;s #Soviet science fiction #Soviet utopian literature #Vasily Andreyev (Russian Soviet writer)

[scotianostra]

On February 16th 1954 the writer Iain Banks was born in Dunfermline, Fife

Banks was a son of a professional ice skater and an Admiralty officer. He spent his early years in North Queensferry and later moved to Gourock because of his father’s work requirement. He received his early education from Gourock and Greenock High Schools and at the young age of eleven, he decided to pursue a career in writing. He penned his first novel, titled The Hungarian Lift-Jet, in his adolescence. He was then enrolled at the University of Stirling where he studied English, philosophy and psychology. During his freshman year, he wrote his second novel, TTR.

Subsequent to attaining his bachelor degree, Banks worked a succession of jobs that allowed him some free time to write. The assortment of employments supported him financially throughout his twenties. He even managed to travel through Europe, North America and Scandinavia during which he was employed as an analyzer for IBM, a technician and a costing clerk in a London law firm. At the age of thirty he finally had his big break as he published his debut novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984, henceforth he embraced full-time writing. It is considered to be one of the most inspiring teenage novels. The instant success of the book restored his confidence as a writer and that’s when he took up science fiction writing.

In 1987, he published his first sci-fi novel, Consider Phlebas which is a space opera. The title is inspired by one of the lines in T.S Eliot’s classic poem, The Waste Land. The novel is set in a fictional interstellar anarchist-socialist utopian society, named the Culture. The focus of the book is the ongoing war between Culture and Idiran Empire which the author manifests through the microcosm conflicts. The protagonist, Bora Horza Gobuchul, unlike other stereotypical heroes is portrayed as a morally ambiguous individual, who appeals to the readers. Additionally, the grand scenery and use of variety of literary devices add up to the extremely well reception of the book. Its sequel, The Player of Games, came out the very next year which paved way for other seven volumes in The Culture series.

Besides the Culture series, Banks wrote several stand-alone novels. Some of them were adapted for television, radio and theatre. BBC television adapted his novel, The Crow Road (1992), and BBC Radio 4 broadcasted Espedair Street. The literary influences on his works include Isaac Asimov, Dan Simmons, Arthur C. Clarke, and M. John Harrison. He was featured in a television documentary, The Strange Worlds of Iain Banks South Bank Show, which discussed his literary writings. In 2003, he published a non-fiction book, Raw Spirit, which is a travelogue of Scotland. Banks last novel, titled The Quarry, appeared posthumously. He also penned a collection of poetry but could not publish it in his lifetime. It is expected to be released in 2015. He was awarded multitude of titles and accolades in honour of his contribution to literature. Some of these accolades include British Science Fiction Association Award, Arthur C. Clarke Award, Locus Poll Award, Prometheus Award and Hugo Award.

Iain Banks was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the gallbladder and died at the age of 59 in the summer of 2013.

#scotland #scottish #history #author #fifer

[creativepromptsforwriting]

List of Genres

Fictional literature

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Crime

Cyberpunk

Dark Comedy

Detective Story

Dystopian

Epic

Fable

Fairy Tale

Fantasy

High Fantasy

Historical

Horror

Low Fantasy

Magical realism

Murder Mystery

Mystery

Psychological thriller

Romance

Romantic Comedy

Satire

Science fiction

Space Opera

Space Western

Steampunk

Supernatural

Thriller

Urban Fantasy

Utopian

Western

Add more in the comments if you like!

#list of genres #creativepromptsforwriting #writing ideas #writing inspiration #writing #creative writing #writeblr #genres

[maddie-grove]

Most Common Problems Faced by My Childhood Dolls (Grouped by Type of Doll)

Baby/Companion Dolls: life-threatening diseases; bullying by other dolls at school; my dubious discipline style; my divorce from my imaginary husband Jake.

Groovy Girls: bullying by other Groovy Girls; life-altering gymnastics accidents; feet too unwieldy for go-go boots.

Barbies: false witchcraft accusations; real witches; tuberculosis; kidnapping; the time Ken and his brother Adam started a polygamous cult; bullying by other Barbies (whether in a normal high school or a beauty pageant or a cult); basically anything bad that happened to female movie stars in Hollywood under the studio system; the challenges of raising a million Chrissies and Kellies and Stacies and Skippers and similarly sized off-brand child dolls with little help from Ken or Adam; sibling rivalry (including an East of Eden-style mess between Ken and Adam).

Dollhouse Families: my friend Emily C. (I was Emily S.) stealing the mom doll from my old Fisher-Price family, leaving John (the dad) a widower, so when I got a new family a few years later, I decided that John should marry Patricia, the mom of the new family, which made it necessary for me to interpret Robbie (almost certainly meant to be a dad doll) as Patricia's teenage son, which was obviously very emotionally confusing for Robbie and exacerbated the usual tensions of a newly blended family.

Clothespin Dolls: Nancy, Alice, and Lily, the three charming clothespin dolls made by my genuinely talented great-aunt Beth in the 1960s or 1970s, were grown-up sisters who had a complicated dynamic (both Nancy and Lily had serious psychological and/or substance abuse issues, so Alice had to take care of them and Nancy's children and her own children) and also experienced nineteenth-century-literature-style problems, like diphtheria and ice-skating accidents and bear attacks. The clothespin dolls that I created myself as a tween/young teen were not as well-made, but their problems were generally limited to normal high school bullshit (not even the kind where you get poisoned or kidnapped!).

Miscellaneous Medium-Sized Figurines (mostly fast food toys of Disney characters and mini-Barbies): various passive-aggressive rivalries between groups (mini-Barbies vs. movie/TV characters, Disney vs. non-Disney, movie vs. TV, protagonist vs. non-protagonist, etc.); a lack of eligible bachelors (leading to unwise marriages, such as Belle from Beauty and the Beast marrying a temperamental Space Jam monster); ennui.

Playmobils: the Playmobils had a nearly utopian society, relatively free from poverty and class snobbery, and generally this diverse group of Union soldiers, stuffy Victorians, pirates, outlaws, royalty, horse girls, milkmaids, and fairies were able to work out their differences peacefully. However, all that progressive modernity had a dark side, most clearly illustrated by the Kafkaesque ordeal of Oliver, a boy who was imprisoned for no discernable reason by an evil psychiatrist and his social worker girlfriend despite the desperate efforts of his mother to free him. Intense wartime romances and infectious disease outbreaks were also common themes.

Fisher-Price Great Adventure Action Figures: these rather hideous but very fun toys (consisting of an anachronistic mix of knights, pirates, cowboys, and Robin Hood's Merry Men) belonged to my seven-years-younger brother, so we would play with them a lot while I was looking after him. Naturally there was a lot of military conflict and criminal activity built into our play (will Robin Hood and his friends be able to steal the treasure from the castle? Will the golden knights or the black knights win the big battle? Who will stop the stagecoach robberies?), but, to entertain myself, I would introduce storylines such as "the Golden Sword Knight is tired of being bullied by the other knights, so he runs away and goes to live in the forest with Robin Hood's gang, where he falls in love with a female outlaw" and "Little John starts a AC/DC-style rock band with two of the black knights and everyone hates it."

Fisher-Price Little People: easily the most provincial of the doll groups, the Fisher-Price Little People struggled with extreme class/wealth inequality, widespread adultery, child abuse, teen homelessness, practically non-existent resources for the disabled, sexual repression, a character known only as "The Pervert," and a killer clown. Every day they went to school and work, and every night they tried to find someone to hook up with and maybe got kidnapped. I only wish my brother and I had been in possession of the motel playset. Think of all the extramarital affairs and drug deals that could have happened there!

Polly Pockets: the Polly Pocket community was dominated by two wealthy factions, a nouveau riche pair of brothers with a beach party house and the royal family. Due to a severe job and housing shortage, plus the local men's habit of not acknowledging their natural children, ordinary Polly Pockets had to struggle and scrape. Compared with the Barbies, there was a lot of solidarity among women (and also Josh, the one working-class boy Polly Pocket). Many of the Polly Pockets were very fragile, including the alcoholic Cowgirl Becky and the agoraphobic piano player Penny.

Paper Dolls: intense status jockeying over who had the most/best clothes, mainly. They also fought about friendships and (if there were any of them) boys, but it ultimately came down to clothes.

#dolls #little john's signature song was called 'ride to hell' #'we're going along on a ride to hell/why don't you come along and feel the trail' #it was not good and everyone was so mad at him

[a-midnight-rest]

Fixing the T'au empire part 2

So, in the first part I explained how the T'au were fine as they were, because their relatively hopeful outlook on the galaxy shone bright in contrast of the rest of the setting, how that turn the rest of the setting even darker, and how I love the idea that the solution to the Galaxy's problem is a truly different, alien approach to our individualist societies.

However, I have come to realize something, a reason as to why the T'au Empire may not feel at home in the 40k universe, and I thought about it by watching Indiana Jones 4, so sacrifices have been made.

The T'au Empire is not mythological.

The 40k is not a sci-fi setting, it is a dark fantasy setting with guns. And part of what makes the grandiosity of it is how mythologized every faction is. And I do not speak about religion, I speak of myths as in the stories we, right now, tell ourselves are the foundations of the world, the archetypes of what is and is not.

The Imperium incarnates the various mythologies of vast empires. Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the British Empire, vast swats of lands combining different people united by righteousness and oppression. And also how all those empires fell. It's the idea of "things were better before" (even when they were not). Moreover, the equipment used by this faction is deliberatly old, centuries old, technology is religiously taken care of, weapons are blessed, vehicles are passed down from generation to generation. It is all very old, marked with that myths of the old Empire on its last leg.

The Orks are the Barbarians At the Gate, the savages who relish only destruction, like Attila the Hun, but british. In truth, it's not like barbarians actually existed, those were just foreign countries, but the myth is there.

The Tyranids are the Monsters in the Dark.

The Craftworld Eldars are the Atlanteans, the Utopians, the Babelians, the Old Civilization who fell due to their own hubris, and is now a superior people with no place to call home and no way back their transgression.

The Dark Eldars are the Feys of old, trolls, goblins, fairies stealing children in the night, playing cruel and horrific pranks, eating people. And following them to their home is a death sentence.

The Chaos is the Evil of Man, the primordial sin, the dark part of Humanity that eats itself to death, self destructive and perverse (They should have western dragons, that would fit them).

The Necrons are Death, or at least they try. They are like the Craftworld Eldars in a sense, but in a more Inevitable return way.

But the T'au? They do not fit any myth, in fact they specifically are immune to myths and the Warp. They are no none-sense, they do not play by any rule. As they were written, they would be better as a recurring joke than a faction. Everything about them is bright new, from theme to lore, and it makes them feel shallow.

There is one exception to that, and that is Farsight, who fit the myth of the Virtuous Rebel, an archetype that is not really coined by any faction as far as I know. In a way, he could also be kind like King Arthur, with his magic blade and his knights around him, but the clash of eastern/western reference hide this interpretation of him.

So... how to fix it? Modern problems requires modern myths.

As I said, myths are not about what is actually old, myths are always modern, visions we have right now about the past. So what Myth could fit the T'au Empire? I think we must look to a very modern work of literature: The SCP Foundation. A collective work written like articles depicting how an advanced and secret organization captures, study, and contains supernatural entities. They are much like the Men in Black, or the government in X-Files. They gain they mythology not through what they are, but what they deal with.

I think we should make the T'au Empire's main armies kinda fade in the background and focus on an organisation within the the T'au Empire that would approach the other mythological faction with a saavy appraoch based on tech to contain and use the horrors back at the horrors. A cold scalpel who knows what they are dealing with, knows they are outmatched, and use secrecy, focused efforts, and unconventional tactics to deal with it. The T'au Empire already have the foundation for it, they are technologically advanced, learn from their mistakes, and have authoritarian ruling cast shrouded in mystery.

They could pop up bio/cyber/solar-punks units, highly specialised and modified modern soldiers. Not the WW1 Kriegsmen, not the WWII Cadians, not the Catachan Rambos, not the Angelic Space Marines. People, with modern, recognizable equipment, turning to extremes in order to deal with demons, and civilizations using farming equipment more ancient than their prehistory.

In that perspective, the T'au main armies would kind of become the background, the necessary fight force to win actual battles and hold ground. Their stories could develop nicely on their own until they become established enough to have their own mythos. But the main event would be the Secret Cadre, the Black ops, the Foundation, the Men In Black of the T'au Empire, using not ancient techs and beliefs against demons like the Inquisition does, but developing Reality anchors of their own, sending modified Tyranid viruses into the other faction, using Soul Traps to capture and send daemons to corrupt enemy tanks.

Fire warriors spawned from tyranids biopools, weapons build by engineers trapped in time distortion to produce more advanced stuff faster, ships recycled from Space Hulks...

To mythologize the T'au, the T'au must, I believe, become Myth users to become Myth Breakers.

#warhammer 40k #t'au empire #Imperium #Orks #Myths #Tyranids #Space Marines #Chaos #Farsight #tau #tau empire

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #13 – Victory City by Salman Rushdie

One of my goals for the year is to read more proper literature (here defined as fiction I can mention reading to my mother without getting judged for it). I’ve never read anything of Rushdie’s before, but I did remember his name in the news recently due to the whole attempted-murder thing and, happily, my library actually had a copy of his newest work. So, picked this up and read it sight unseen!

The book follows one Pampa Kampana – a nine-year-old girl who, in the 14th century, witnesses her city destroyed, and her mother burning herself alive. She is then inhabited and blessed by a goddess, blessed/cursed with a lifespan measured in centuries and the destiny of raising an empire up and seeing it fall before she dies.

The narrative is framed as a modern adaptation/summary of the epic poem recounting her life Pampa completes before finally dying, finally discovered and translated after being forgotten in the ruins of te imperial capital for centuries. The story is largely a story of this miraculous, semi-utopian empire, as told Pampa’s eyes (and with a lengthy digression during the years she spends in exile).

This is a story that exists somewhere in the muddy middle ground between historical low fantasy and magical realism – it’s in some sense an alternate history of the Vijayanagara Empire, and replete with historical trivia and references, but is quite clear from the outset that accuracy is not really something the book cares about. Instead, the book’s Vijayanagara – always written as Bisnaga, as it was translated by a historical Portuguese chronicler whose also a minor character in the story, to prevent confusion – is basically allegory and morality tale with a light coating of history for flavour.

Not that I can really begrudge Rushdie for his strident politics (as far as I can tell I basically agree with him on all of it), but this really does feel like one of those old fantastical utopias, or a political treatise that gets past the censors by pretending to be the history of a foreign country, more than it does a novel. Which could definitely work! But in this case really didn’t, at least for me. There’s enough time spent on characterization and character drama to eat up pages, but not enough for it to ever feel like they’re people and not just marionettes acting out a show. I suppose the best way to get across the reading experience is that I was reading a proper 500 page history book at the same time as I read this, and this felt like the bigger slog by far.

Though part of that might just be disappointed expectations that I really had no right to have in the first place? As I said, I had Rushdie slotted in my head as a literary author, but really I don’t know nearly enough about him or his work to justify that. So I came to this expecting to be at least a bit wowed and bedazzled by the artistry and beautiful prose on display – and like, eh? Not bad, to be sure, the narrative voice and the framing device are both fun and fairly well done. But having read it there’s really not a single passage or sequence I can say has stuck with me.

The comparison that comes to mind is Kalpa Imperial by Angélica Gorodischer, which is also a book-length epic history of a fantastical empire that never was which laughs at all conventional wisdom about pacing, characterization and plot (and which also has been shelved as magical realism for what are basically reasons genre snobbery imo). It’s been a few years since I read it, but from what I recall that agreed with me far more. Maybe just because it abandoned the conceit of a single protagonist and family melodrama entirely, or maybe because it had a bit more subtle in its social commentary (or maybe it was just better written on a sentence-to-sentence level).

Though I should say, there’s every possibility I’m being a bit harsher on this than it entirely deserves – it’s an entirely competent book! The politics are blatant but like a) they’re politics I agree with and b) they’re nowhere near the most blatant or forced-feeling inclusion of progressive politics in fiction I’ve seen recently. However, this is also a piece of writing that’s among other things very clearly and directly about how important and sublime and world-changing the art of writing is. Which is like a movie about making it in showbuisness, or a musical about how great singing is. Automatic deduction of a full letter grade.

#book review #victory city #salman rushdie #literature

[aropride]

(i am not misusing those terms btw my dad is very obviously autistic)

#text

[burningvelvet]

on percy shelley & human connection & coping through art

to set the mood of this post i must say i'm writing it really quickly on my phone over a bowl of pasta with bread & broccoli & some orange flavored sparkling water & im still dressed in my outdoor wintery clothes (all black, knee boots, wool, silver chains & rings, although i mostly prefer gold jewelry).

so anyway today i've been kind of sad over ppl not replying to my texts & my usual reaction is to say "ok, guess i'll kms, wah wah, cry cry" but this sort of passively cynical joking schtick has gotten old & i would rather occupy myself some other way instead of moping about failed connections or the difficulty of initiating contact with anyone or the struggles of modern socialization as a whole.

instead, i will read the works of percy shelley tonight, and think about how he struggled with all of this over 200 yrs ago. of how hard he struggled to make leigh hunt and lord byron collaborate with him on their journal the liberal, and how he struggled all his life to build a positive community even in spite of years of bullying, ostracization, and family strife - he often felt like giving up, and like human connection was impossible, but he never gave in to apathy and instead he continuously curated his ideal life by seeking out other like-minded people, even when he occasionally embarrassed himself in public or when others were decidely averse to him or lukewarm in their reception. john keats didn't entirely take to him when they met and some of keats' friends straight-up disliked percy for being weird, but percy (though scarcely knowing him) loved keats as a brother-poet nonetheless, was generous to him, wrote one of his masterpieces in his favor, and died with a copy of his poems in his pocket.

percy always reached out to others and was a loyal friend even when others disrespected him or ignored him or just simply didnt love him as much as he did them. his letters to lord byron show how reverent he was to his friend, and how his affection was never returned in quite the same gusto, but, while still trying to keep his self-respect, percy quelled his frustrations and continued his correspondence with byron regardless. percy acted as the mediator between byron and claire even when his stress was so high it weighed heavily on his health. he actively tried to choose to be positive even when the people around him were negative or miserable. like most writers back then, he sent his writing to his idols, and sought mentorship from people he admired, like william godwin and leigh hunt, and he continued to respect them even when they took advantage of him financially (moreso in godwin's case).

anyway what i mean to say is that whenever im feeling lonely or rejected or alienated or socially stupid or am just second-guessing my role in society or whatever whatever whatever, i cling to creativity/art/literature/etc. even harder than i regularly do, because thats what it exists for.

i knew a therapist (not one i saw as a patient, but someone i knew through mutual interests in media/the arts) who said that a certain musical performance we both loved probably saved way more lives than any single therapist ever has. - the performance in question was david bowie's tokyo 1990 live recording of rock n roll suicide, an anti-suicide song (its available on youtube, go watch it lol, he performs it with so much conviction).

any way even though at the end of his life shelley sometimes felt like he was failing to achieve his dream of building a utopian art commune - he actually did succeed in introducing several people to each other in ways that changed peoples lives. his friends jane williams and thomas jefferson hogg got married only through his mutual friendship. whole literary societies have been started in his honor - to this day there are conferences & whatnot that meet annually - his life & writing continues to inspire people and bring them comfort - & he would be extremely proud of that - any artist would. the main goal of any famous dead writer is basically to become the imaginary friend of their future readers & he accomplished that - even though all the time he was wracked with doubt/depression/suicidality/illness/chronic pain, etc. - as a political/philosophical radical, he realized that having hope is one of the most influential & radical things one can do - & i'm glad that, even though this is a person who died over 200 yrs ago, there is at least one person who really resonates with me - even though we're from different centuries, different continents, different sexes, etc. - it's helpful to have positive influences to look up to, especially when they've also struggled in similar ways as you. and although shelley was pretty privileged (rich englishman) he really did struggle a lot mentally & physically - his life was a chaotic mess - and he wasn't perfect at all - but i think he's still inspirational for my previously mentioned reasons - his ceaseless hope. the last poem he was working on was titled the triumph of life, even though he wrote it during a deep depression. the last poem he published in his lifetime was hellas, which he hoped would raise money for the cause of greek war of independence. from the poem:

"Life may change, but it may fly not;

Hope may vanish, but can die not;

Truth be veiled, but still it burneth;

Love repulsed, — but it returneth!"

#percy bysshe shelley #percy shelley #me #? #ramblings #my writing #art #literature #socializing #thoughts #hopepunk #that was shelley #tw suicide mention #opinions #essays #poetry #social anxiety

[copperbadge]

I’m still working my way through some of the comments on Twelve Points, but someone made the observation that the Eurovision movie sets Eurovision in Scotland, and wondered if perhaps in the movie Scotland had achieved independence, otherwise England would never stand for them hosting. And I was like “Oh how funny! I should work Scottish independence into the Shivadhverse. Just like. At some point there’s a throwaway line about Scottish independence and Irish unification.” I’ve already cancelled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic, why not?

And I’m just kind of enjoying the idea of shifting the Shivadhverse further and further into an idealized world, where it starts out seemingly pretty normal and just gets weird and utopian around about the 20th book (right when, per earlier discussion, Michaelis passes away and becomes a ghost haunting the sound equipment at the Fishing Lodge, functionally becoming an immortal). 

The Shivadh Romances eventually just turn out to be some super longform piece of performance art meditating on the nature of genre fiction and utopian literature....

#shivadhverse

[excalibutt]

Pathologic Fan Essay: Metatextuality and the Blurring of the Barrier Between Protagonist and Player in Pathologic Fanfiction

Spoiler warning: If you intend to play Pathologic Classic HD or Pathologic 2 and do not want your experience to be spoiled, come back to this essay after you’ve done your playthroughs. This is a spoiler-heavy essay.

When it comes to games that stick with us enough to consume our thoughts and compel us to make, nothing I have played has ever held a candle to what Pathologic does. It’s a game with a brutal story, viscerally and intentionally painful gameplay, and one that pushes boundaries in a way I’ve never seen another game do as artfully as this does. I’ve been thinking about it nonstop for the past four years, and I can honestly say that it’s fundamentally changed me as a person, and how I regard myself. The effect that Pathologic has is that it pushes us to make hard creative choices about what we make that is inspired by it, because of its inherently compelling and philosophical nature.

One of the things that makes the Pathologic game series so absolutely resonant with its players and fans are the metatextual elements that are introduced to the player. These are elements that serve to remind the player that they are in fact; playing a video game, and not actually fighting for survival in a plague-decimated utopian steppe-settlement. These themes and reminders are more overt in Classic than they are in 2, but that doesn’t make them any less present between the two games. We’ll be talking about the nature of the game itself and how it sits in the world of games that integrate metacommentary, and the philosophical impact that it has on fanworks. The influence of these themes resonates outward through everything the fans make, in ways we might not even initially be aware of. 

I. THE NATURE OF THE GAME

There are three distinct layers of plot (literal and metatextual) across Pathologic Classic and Pathologic 2. Those layers are: The Literal Level, The Powers That Be Level, and the Theater Level.

1. The Literal Level—This is where the plot, setting, and characters breathe and live. They are just as real as you and me. Most games operate solely within this level. 

2. The Powers That Be Level—This is the level in which the characters you play learn themselves that this is a game. The world is not real, it was designed by someone else, and they may not even be in control of themselves. Many famously meta-aware games operate within this level. 

3. The Theater Level—This is the level in which you, as the player, are forced to choose if You are in the game, or if you are not. This is where you are forced to confront whether or not there are lines that divide you from a player character, or not. When you act as a Healer, are their words yours? Are their actions yours? Or are they theirs? Are you a ghost or little voice sitting over their shoulder, gently guiding them where you think they ought to go? Are you watching this performance, or acting in it? Or are you, philosophically speaking, in that moment, the Character you are inhabiting? Or are they you?

Games that are famous for their metatextual themes feature a moment in which the unreality of a game is thrown directly into your face: (Undertale, Doki Doki Literature Club, The Stanley Parable.) There is no doubt that the first realization that characters are self-aware of their fictionality is a deeply impactful moment for players who are experiencing these titles for the first time. However, the impact on players tends to wear off after that first moment. It never hits as hard as it did the first time. You accept the unreality as an element, and you move on. I largely credit most of the reason for this being that you, the player, experience more separation from the character you are playing as, and the character most impacted and shaken by being confronted by unreality is not usually the character you play as. 

Here are a few examples of this disconnect from the games I listed above:

1. In Undertale, Frisk and Chara are very blank slates, not themselves submitted to a crisis of reality. They serve purely as player avatars. They never speak to you or express any sort of personality influenced by you beyond silent, but determined action through the Underground. Through them, you watch the aftermath of Flowey the Flower/Prince Asriel’s crisis instead, who is aware of and driven into a sort of numb insanity by living by the rules of a game.  While this pain elicits compassion, Frisk/Chara is not directly experiencing anguish followed by numbness and disillusionment. You as the player are also not actually experiencing these things. You’re watching it happen to Flowey/Asriel instead, and are impacted from the outside looking in.   

2. Doki Doki Literature Club features a side-character in a cliched visual-novel romance game named Monika who Knows You Are Real, and not just the text on the screen that you play as. (In the Literal Level of this game, you are a faceless boy but your physical presence is mostly just text on a screen. You barely even get so much as a real avatar.) Monika is confronted with and burdened with the knowledge of her own unreality, and she begins to warp the game itself. Her anguish and pain elicits both real fear and real pity, but your reality remains the same. You were never in this world to begin with, and the fact that she cannot leave it hurts her more than it hurts you, the player.  So much so, that by the end; she’s deleted it all. She is also still not the playable character. You witness the crisis from the outside in. 

3. The Stanley Parable never once pretends to not be a video game, and is arguably only really effective as an art piece if you’re familiar with choice-based story genres. Stanley remains another blank slate, and not an established character; despite the Narrator’s constant attempts to develop you as one. Stanley is a very generic white man in business-casual attire made in Gary’s Mod, but most of the time, you don’t even see him. The narrative of it being a choice-based video game is never forgotten, and if any crises happen; it is via the will of the Narrator or the Narrator himself having said crisis. The running joke of the Stanley Parable is that you and the Narrator both are choosing to pretend that you are a man named Stanley, despite the fact that you both know better. But the fact is, it’s a much better story when you play along. By the end of it, you sort of do start to become him. 

The characters in these titles that you play as are totally blank slates. This is a popular choice for game developers because it’s much easier, in theory, to pretend it’s you. That is a legacy that arguably began with the creation of The Legend of Zelda games; and the reason for the famously mute protagonist’s namesake: Link (being a metaphorical link between the player and the world of the game)  

It’s enticing to put on a blank mask, because reality blurs and you really become a hero, a lost little kid, a romantic ideal, or a horrible little man named Stanley, harassing some poor incorporeal narrator by your contrary and experimental nature. But Stanley as a protagonist isn’t canonically horrible, or mischievous, or contrary. Frisk or Chara are not really kindhearted or genocidal, and assigning personality to the protagonist of Doki Doki literature club beyond ‘vaguely lazy’ is a little pointless because it was never about him in the first place, so you can genuinely transpose much of yourself onto him. These are all potential paths and personalities we as players can impress upon our character as we play. 

In Pathologic, however, the lines between Player and Protagonist blur and fade. The very nature of the game dictates that you have three choices of Protagonist; and if you are playing as one—You will be interfacing with the other two inevitably during your playthrough. What this means is that Ice Pick Lodge had to develop actual personalities for these characters that flavor your dialogue options, your actions, and the way you see and interact with the world through their eyes. What makes these characters so damn interesting to us, is that they are fully-fleshed out, individual people, and we are being given the opportunity to step into their shoes, and become them. 

They aren’t blank slates. They’re fully developed characters who have their own motivations, flaws, challenges, prejudices, and desires. What Ice Pick Lodge has done here, is they have genuinely made us become Actors. We have a range of things we can say and do, but we will always be rigidly in-character when we do them. That is why and how the Theater Layer exists metatextuality. Pathologic is not the only game series that does this, but it’s the only one that has stuck with me and made me lose sleep. Mostly, because the games that tend to have more established protagonists usually exclude them from realizing this is all fictional, and that they aren’t real. One strong example of this is Dragon Age 2. Hawke (your player character) never comes to the realization that none of this is real, but you still step into them as an established role, with a malleable but canon personality. Choice in other RPGs when it comes to dialogue are still designed to be very vague and open, so it feels like you are making the choice, and not them. Wheras other games that feature characters with strong personalities feel more like you’re watching their story play out, rather than having agency within them. (The Silent Hill games, for example.) 

The canonical impact and delivery of the fact of Unreality for the protagonists we play as in Pathologic becomes a deeply personal and painful thing. Every time I play Pathologic, I know that there will be a metatextual reveal directly to the protagonist about the nature of the world they are in and who they fundamentally are. And it still hits like a fucking hammer when it happens. The first time I finished the Bachelor’s Route in Pathologic Classic, I laid awake for hours after the fact, because I ached with empathy for the plight and pain of Daniil Dankovsky. I realized not only that I cared for him as a character; but I was smarting from the loss of connection to him. My time being Bachelor Dankovsky was done, and he was left with… nothing. The word was no longer real, and it wasn’t wholly him participating in it in the first place. It broke him to realize that he had no agency or free will. It broke me to realize I had to let him go, and be myself again, for all I was left with after I was disentangled. 

There is a really beautiful quote in Pathologic Classic that is recited time and time again by fanfiction authors, and the quote is spoken by Dankovsky himself, which is in reaction to him meeting Artemy Burakh, the Haruspex, when you are playing the Haruspex route. That quote is: “Far be it from me to call myself a person of mystical inclinations. However, when I look at you, I get the feeling that nature is playing jokes on us. It’s as if both the left hand and the right hand have clutched the head to realize for the first time that they are two parts of a single whole.” 

Many authors chose to interpret this as a declaration of love, or recognition of another half of himself in Artemy Burakh, (and I am certainly not above this) but metatextually speaking; it’s as if he recognizes you, the player, hiding inside of The Haruspex, and having come to find him again. In theory, if you have played as The Bachelor before The Haruspex, then… yes. He should recognize you, and as a result, in this route, he is indispensable in aiding you, which he does until narrative forces him to stop. To this day, it’s one of the most rewarding and comforting things I have experienced in a game this brutal. Even starting a route as painful as the Haruspex’s, I felt like I had a true friend. I felt like I knew Daniil, and like I was in a sense—coming home. He and Artemy are the hands, but you, the player, are the head. It’s a poetic thought about how we visualize space and are limited by only being able to perceive three-dimensions. A two dimensional-creature would perceive you as only the flat bottoms of your feet, and never understand the connection that roots them in space they can’t comprehend and don’t exist within. 

 II. PHILOSOPHICAL IMPACT ON FANWORKS

Aside from my lost sleep just thinking about this damn game, I’ve also become a fanfiction author for it. I’ve spent a lot of time in this creative community which is a booming space for some of the most thought-provoking and emotionally haunting art and literature I have ever seen in a fan-space. This game elicits so much thought and love, and people are left with so much more of it to give. A lot of this is owed to the emotionally harrowing and gut-wrenchingly good plot that exists on the Literal Level of the game, we can’t deny that. The characters are fascinating, the setting is insanely captivating, and the plot is so impactful that you never forget it. Part of me would honestly joke that my favorite book is Pathologic because of how much reading you need to do, but it’s all worth reading. 

What’s so amazing about the metatextual elements that are introduced into the game, is that they add to the experience instead of making you cringe or laugh or experience guilt for playing the game. Games like Undertale (while poignant and incredible) suggest that the only way to free characters in a video game from their purgatory is not to play it at all. As a result, the replayability of the game is somewhat ruined. I can never play Undertale again because I cannot under any circumstances ruin the happiness of characters I worked so hard for, or be made responsible for it. I can get some kicks from making someone else play it though and watch them then experience the same moral problem. 

Pathologic 2, though, suggests this line of thought, but it’s still beckoning you back. You are invited to look and gawk at the spectacle, and worse; take part in it. It’s a deeply seductive disaster, even if you’re told again and again that your participation is what jumpstarts the plague. 

In fact, it’s so seductive that a creative fanbase were compelled play with this space more, and start writing fanfiction for it. But what is interesting about the choices authors are making when drafting stories, is that they have to make a choice about what Layer of Metatextual Reality their story is going to exist on.

There are the three choices to be made from the layers I mentioned above, (Literal, Powers that Be, and Theater) and the deeper you go, the more you have to incorporate. I am friends with a handful of authors, (on top of being one myself) and I’ve found that people feel very strongly about which Layer their work is going to operate in. We all have opinions about it, because the reality you choose will influence the direction of your work. 

The biggest opinion camps are: 

a) Those who avoid the metatextual content of the game. They exist very happily on the Literal Layer of plot, and when manipulating the rules of said layer; do not address the theme of unreality. This isn’t a fault, by any means, because some of the most deeply creative and heart-wrenching fan content operates in this level, much like the plot of the game itself. It’s fertile ground to grow a story in just because of how dense the Literal layer actually is. This is a deliberate choice, not usually based in fear of not doing it justice. The game itself gives you the option to declare yourself part of this world or not. These authors have chosen largely to do that; and breathe life into the characters as they are. 

I spoke to a fellow author (inkpot_demigod) who thrives and is compelled by this Literal Layer of plot, asking why it draws them in so much. 

“[...] our stories are an act of both self-preservation and defiance. They are a reason to live, and to do so better. If the big twist is that a story isn't real, and is worthless to those with more power than the people living it...well, that's hardly a twist at all. I know that. What's important is how a story compels us to live anyways.

In that sense, I still believe a twist like Pathologic's has a lot of value. It's worth asking what is worth living for if the only importance we have is that which we construct for ourselves. But it is a twist I don't always feel like contending with, as a resident of unkind reality, and an obliterating one besides—one that can easily make every other question raised by a story seem insignificant in comparison […] there are so many things I want to explore in this world, with these characters, aside from those most existentially urgent questions. So when I am doing so, it seems best to simply not approach the question of 'what meaning does life hold for a doll?' at all.”

Then of course: 

b) Those who confront the metatextual content of the game. They tend to operate more on The Powers that Be Layer and (a very little bit) of the Theater Layer. They cannot unsee the shattered reality of the town, and involve the element of unreality in their work. This can create some insanely creative twists and turns and even unusual or uncommon elements that get incorporated into plot and dialogue. This is equally fertile ground for creativity and mind-boggling discussion as well as deeply tragic, human stories. These characters are still treated as human, but who struggle with faith in the world they operate in. It’s painful and somewhat nihilistic, but the stories also tend to circle back on how to deal with that struggle. 

c) Those who make their work on the Theater Layer though, face a very unique challenge because this is the layer that you, the player, writer, or reader are invited to step into. How exactly do you do that in fanfiction?  Historically, in Ye Olde Days of fanfiction.net in the early 2000’s, it was common for people to include script-style commentary between the author and characters. Pathologic as a game does this but it’s also insanely hard for people in fandom to shake the collective memory of this appearing in crackfics and in old Potterotica. Executing a plot element in the Theater Layer is not easy to do without it feeling instinctively cringy or falling flat, but it is possible to do well. If this game has convinced me of anything, it’s that we can do miracles—and the miracles are truly impactful, powerful pieces that push you to become more than you are. 

Think about all of that for a moment. 

Think about how there are Three Metatextual layers in which the authors must choose for their story to operate within, and think for a moment, about how three is a very important, recurring number in Pathologic. There is another choice between three things the player must choose at the beginning of Pathologic Classic; which is which protagonist you will be playing as. 

The theory suggested here, in observances of the Pathologic fan-space, is that the choice of metatextual Layer in which the author chooses to operate on is parallel to the choice of Healer you play as. Each healer has their own philosophies, their own way of walking through the world, their own way of perceiving their world, and their own comfort-levels confronting the metatextual nature of said world. When confronted with their unreal nature, The Haruspex exists in the Literal Layer of the world, The Bachelor exists in the Powers That Be Layer of the world, and the Changeling exists in the Theater layer of the world. 

The Haruspex, Artemy Burakh, tries very hard to forget that the world he lives in isn't real. He tries very hard to see the life in it again despite being confronted with the fact that it is not. He chooses the fictional layer as the one to cling to and stay within, because he embraces the town as his own body. If the town and world around them isn’t real, then he isn’t real. He recognizes that it isn’t, but to him, it’s much like accepting you're going to die one day. It's an unpleasant reminder, but an easy thought to repress as Artemy. It is a fact, but it's one that's easy to ignore. Life goes on, because the pain and anguish you feel is real enough. One is encouraged to stubbornly forget or repress the unreality, and focus on their feet on the ground. Philosophically speaking, we can quickly reference the rationalist, Rene Descartes: “I think, therefore I am.” It’s a philosophy that suits him well, because everything to him is the relationship of the physical body. It’s a story steeped in blood, and rich with life and it’s many horrors. 

Taking the approach of the Haruspex when it comes to writing fiction means intimately understanding the literal layer of this world and loving it wholly and for as long as you can. It means swallowing your fear, and pressing on, staunchly ignoring the unreality that terrifies you for the sake of Life.

The Bachelor, Daniil Dankovsky, can't forget that the world isn't real. It's scarred him forever and he can't unsee it. The foundation of his character is that he has the noble and impossible goal of trying to end death (or at least give people a choice to opt-in to their conscious and physical existence ending) and this shattering of his reality is a reminder that inevitability by nature cannot be fought. It’s inevitable. The world being unreal means that death can never be defeated, because life as a whole was always an illusion. This world was always fictional and it always aches for you and him both to remember it. His canonical ending choices in Pathologic Classic feel nihilistic. It doesn’t feel like a victory. Victory isn’t real. Everything is predetermined: This fact cannot be ignored. Daniil makes the philosophical journey from a utilitarian to a nihilist. His story is about making hard and painful decisions based on hopefully reaching an ideal conclusion; or a utopia where all the sacrifices would be worth the minimal loss. But none of it is; because none of it is real. 

Taking the approach of the Bachelor when it comes to writing fiction means confronting the jarring and unpleasant experience of shattered reality, and then learning how to utilize and execute them for great and terrible impact.

I don’t necessarily believe that these observances are rules that are set in stone, but the parallel hit me hard when I noticed it. “Reality” as a concept in this game for these protagonists is irrevocably interlinked with their unique philosophies and their relationships to death. I think we as authors fall into these patterns because those are the kinds of questions these games prompt us to confront and think about. Somewhere out there, someone has just discovered Pathologic, and has found themselves with an excess of creative energy and desperately needs to make it manifest. If they’re a writer, then we know one of the ways it will happen, because after experiencing these games, you can’t unsee what you’ve seen, or unread what you’ve read. You can choose what to focus on or what to repress, but pieces of it will stick with you forever.

The Changeling, Clara, is ironically the least experienced, but knows and remembers on some gut level from the beginning that the world isn't real, and yet it is. She exists as a paradox, simply because the paradoxical nature of this world does. She has the power on the Literal level of the world to look right through you, and into you once she has her hooks in. Her revelation about the reality of the Literal Layer and the Powers That Be layer comes days sooner than it does for the Haruspex or Bachelor. Ironically, she’s also far younger than them, being only 12 days old by the end of the game. She isn’t as damaged by the unreality of the situation; because she is the unreality, having sprung up out of the ground out of nowhere. (EDIT 1: 09/04/2023 She also is too young to have formed any other attachment to a diffetent reality, which is why I think she takes this in stride.) The metatextual issues happening on the layers closer to our reality have influence on who she is, which is why there are two of her: The Powers That Be can’t agree on who she is. (EDIT 2: 09/04/2023 This part of the game is also arguably a part of us by this point because you have to have beaten at least one other route to play hers. That means you have to understand and know the town, the game, and all of the spoilers by this point. There are two Claras because we ourselves have stolen her face and fate to become part of the game.) She is paradoxically both an adult and a child at the same time, just as she is paradoxically both the harbinger of the disease and the saint to heal everyone of it, as well as paradoxically both NPC and Player Character at once. She exists as a vaccine does, teaching the body to fight something that looks exactly like her. Philosophically speaking, Clara is almost a metaphysical solipsist—in which only the self is real and everything else is a game. But then again... so are we when we play her.

Taking the approach of the Changeling when it comes to writing fiction means taking joy and freedom in the fact that it is fiction. This could be the realm of crackfic, which we as a fandom have very little of because of how seriously we take ourselves. But it also might more seriously be sneaking in meta layers after a larger story,  luring readers into a sense of false security before hitting them every bit as hard as the game does. Or it could even be integrating things that aren’t traditional writing mediums at all; like interactive pieces that make the story a game once again. (EDIT 3: 09/04/2023 I think that a truly successful fic that takes the Changeling's approach is one that manages to create metacommentary about the medium the story is being told in, just as the game does. What are the rules and tropes of fanfiction? How do we draw attention to them and subvert them? How does they become part of us? How are we part of it?)

The divisive nature of how authors tend to choose how to write for this game was put beautifully by my coauthor, permian-tropos:

“I can’t say concisely why Pathologic’s metacommentary works for me and feels deep compared to some games that ruin their fun in similar fashion. But I think it’s because the game is about the dread of realizing the utter illusion of free will (which is why the meta-reveals are necessary, you are shown to be a doll or an actor, the story is predetermined.) And then where art comes into it is like…maybe art is the answer to feeling like everything is meaningless. Whether that’s children playing a game to cope with loss, or a stage production put on by a weirdo who wants you to become your character to defy death. And maybe art is the answer to: ‘What would humans do if they could defy all of their limits?”

That’s why we write. Our work as budding authors and (and ex-actors) is impacted and influenced by great love and great resonance with a story so much greater and so much bigger than it seems to be. I think we’re falling into these patterns and feel as strongly as we do about writing them in the way that we are because we feel things when we are confronted with unreality while we’re acting as protagonists. The sharpness of the knife that cuts us from the characters we play influences what happens next. Do we hate the knife enough to try and forget it? Do we try to seize the knife to point it at someone else? Or do we see ourselves reflected there in the blade and find ourselves both frightened and inspired at the same time?

What I do know is that my love for this story comes because it pushes boundaries. It is so much more than we think it will be, unfolding, folding onto itself. It forces us to ask ourselves if we too, can become more than we think we are. One could even argue that this is why so many western fans of the game are nonbinary or transgender, or read certain characters as such. If we are more than just the body we inhabit, then what other limitations can we transcend? 

MARK IMMORTELL: People overcome death by pushing the limits of self-understanding. Such as the limits that make a person perceive themselves as a body, instead of a sum of knowledge connected through unique associations. Consider yourself as being more like a kaleidoscope, and your life will become... not compelling, exactly, but... more.

#pathologic #pathologic fan essay #long post #damn if this isn't for an extremely niche audience in an extremely niche game #мор утопия