There is a long history of "the fantastic" in literature that goes back to some of our earliest myths and religions and folktales. Often, these stories of the fantastic are ways to help us understand the world we live in, they're creation stories or stories that help us know why we're here or why we are they way we are.
I would consider both of the stories we read for this week fantastic stories (in both senses of the word--they're magic and they're also just really good). They also both use real elements of the natural world. In "The Mushroom Queen," we have a mushroom who takes on the shape of a woman and makes the woman a mushroom. But this is not just fantasy, it relies on real science. Look, for instance at the first full par. on p. 170: Beetles really do interact w/ mushrooms this way. Ziemska is just imagining what that would feel like if the mushrooms were part of a sentient individual. Likewise, no human child has ever been kidnapped by a raptor. But what if it had? And what if, instead of eating it, it adopted the child? It would probably feed it in the way described on p. 424.
This week, I'd like you to respond to the fantastic elements in both of these stories. Did you believe in them? Did they remind you of other stories, TV shows, films? Which ones and why? What do these stories have to do w/ contemporary life? With the environment?
Since we're finishing up the fiction section of the course, you might make some general comments on what makes fiction different than other genres? Which story, or stories, that we read did you connect to best and why? Which stories did you struggle w/?
"The mushroom queen" I found was a difficult story to read. this is because I couldn't understand or figure out if the women was a mushroom or a women. but now I understood in class the women becomes a mushroom. And I can connect with the women because I feel like this women her dog has so much loyalty to her and wants her back to become a women because the dog loves her and misses her. And I feel like I have that connection with my dog too. I love my dog so much and I know my dog feels the same way because he is always crying for me when I leave the house or when I am gone.
ReplyDelete"The Mushroom Queen" was a very enjoyable read. I think part of what gives fiction such a strong pull on readers is its ability to bring to life the impossible. The Mushroom Queen is something out of a horror film-a sentient fungus that replaces a human, free to do whatever she wants. As entertaining as reading fiction is, writing it is equally as fun. When writing fiction, you can really go wild with your imagination- there shouldn't be any limits on your creativity.
ReplyDelete"The Mushroom Queen" was a story that reminds me of the origins of other fairy tales. We all know that children stories usually have darker origins. This story mostly reminds me of the real Little Mermaid. The mushroom's lust for love is something that can be seen when the little mermaid falls in love with a human. The dark ending of the mushroom woman being eaten by her dog is similar to when the mermaid's prince married another women. It is a dark comparison that proves to readers how dark fairy tales truly are.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. Just like what prof. Talbird said in class, Disney covers and changes the original “dark fairy tales” to become cute and heroic bedtime stories that we tell to our children.
DeleteIf the Raptor had adopted the child then it would've made a great twist at the end of the story, instead of eating it. What makes fiction different from other genres is you can literally write about anything. It's probably one of the easiest genres to write a story on. Throughout all the stories that we read, I had struggle with "The Mushroom Queen", I didn't understand the message it was sending. Once the narrator mentioned the mushroom, that's where I got lost.
ReplyDelete"the raptor" was really confused me because i feel it was going a lot in there. i only understand when they guy was mentions god plan everything so i was really confused.
Deletei really like the " the mushroom queens " i feel like i really understand better. the women was on drugs. first i thought she was have mental problem.
ReplyDeleteThe "Mushroom Queen" was really nice story. I like how they show dog loyalty towards women as we all know dogs are always loyal to human beings. But I felt kind of bad when she kill her own dog at the end of the story.
ReplyDeleteI notice the dog's loyalty as well and I thought that was pretty awesome to show. What I didn't like was the fact that the woman had killed the dog at the end of the story.
DeleteI had difficulty with "The Mushroom Queen" because of how confusing it is. But in class when we discuss the reading, I found out that not only me that had a difficult time on it but most of the class also struggled with it. Some say the women has on drugs, had mental illness, dark fairy tales and some say it is fantasy theme. I understand it as magic fantasy. The setting was on a full moon night (full moon is when mystery creature comes out) the woman was a witch and dancing under moonlight and transform herself to a mushroom back and forth whenever she wants (at first I misunderstand the story as there was only one women). Her dogs are her servant and only the white one love her and willing to sacrifice himself to be with her at the end. This was my interpretation of the story before the class discussion. As you can see I misunderstand most part of the story because of how confusing it is. Nonetheless, I enjoy it and like the story. Because this is a fantasy fiction story and it is for entertaining. From my example, I can say that is the beauty of fiction stories, we are using our individual’s imagination along with the author’s imagination story. Therefore, sometimes readers can misinterpretation in his or her own way.
ReplyDeleteLalita, I don't think that you misunderstood most of the story. It sounds like you had a pretty good reading of it. You're exactly right that it's happening during a full moon, something we didn't discuss in class. The full moon often has magical qualities in stories.
DeleteIt weird how I can easily read things like little red riding hood, the three little pigs etc. and have no problem believing it. In my mind I feel like anything is possible. It explains the unexplainable. For some reason I have a hard time believing the “mushroom queen”. The beginning was believable and even the journey was too.It was just hard to believe how she got to the other side of the coast. I feel like I needed a better explanation, from how I read it, it seem a bit impossible.
ReplyDeleteFiction open my eyes with vast experience of reading and analyzing the reality of life which wrap up in stories that are imaginable and some lessons. These stories fulfilled our perceptions of unreal world that are classics and antiques enter the mind in possibilities and suspense, creates unexplainable world of dreams and imaginations. I thought that the mushroom queen became a woman after watching her delight but unfortunately this suspense goes on her death and left sadness. I know it was just fiction but imaginations get our souls in our expectations. That's why I love the fiction which help to read the different opinions of human perceptions.
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