An interesting debate has started between two authors on the internet about the nature of Art and whether fantasy literature qualifies.
The first article, fromThe New Atlantis, features an argument by James Bowman about the nature of realism and fantasy in art, and why he does not consider fantasy art — the genre of choice for Lewis and Tolkien — to be “real” art.
Avatar and the Flight from Reality.
In The American Culture, Daniel Crandall responds in defense of fantasy. Click the link below for his response:
James Bowman responded to my defense of Fantasy as Art, giving me another opportunity to defend work that truly needs no defense – http://stkarnick.com/culture/2010/03/15/james-bowman-denies-denying-artistic-standing-to-tolkien-and-lewis/