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As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality
Named One of the "Best Books of 2012" by the Editors of The Huffington Post Many people throughout the world "inhabit" imaginary worlds communally and persistently, parsing Harry Potter and exploring online universes. These activities might seem irresponsibly escapist, but history tells another story. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, when Sherlock Holmes became the world's first "virtual reality" character, readers began to colonize imaginary worlds, debating serious issues and viewing reality in provisional, "as if" terms rather than through essentialist, "just so" perspectives. From Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and Tolkien's Middle-earth to the World of Warcraft and Second Life, As If provides a cultural history that reveals how we can remain enchanted but not deluded in an age where fantasy and reality increasingly intertwine.
294 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 8, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 1, 2015
Michael T. Saler has produced a somewhat uneven but ultimately fascinating discussion of the prehistory of fandom, analyzing how (and, more to the point, why) the first participatory fan cultures - the communities that grew up around Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, H.P. Lovecraft's Mythos, and J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth - chose to view reality in provisional, "as if" terms rather than through essentialist, "just so" perspectives. In other words, Saler sees these fandoms' engagement with their respective imaginary universes as representing not the willing suspension of disbelief, but rather the willing adoption of pretense - or, to put it another way, the choice to choose only the positive side of enchantment, to be delighted but not deluded.
At the heart of Saler's analysis is what he calls animistic reason, the marriage of reason and imagination (or what Edgar Allan Poe called "ratiocination," and fortunately Saler does recognize that Poe's C. Auguste Dupin was the first character to embody the trait). This more expansive concept of rationality appears in Conan Doyle's, Lovecraft's, and Tolkien's work, Saler says, and this explains why fans chose these texts as the settings for their "fantasy as social practice." Saler interprets these early virtual realities as efforts to combat what Max Weber in 1917 called "the disenchantment of the world," the loss of meaning created by the forces of modernity.
This fits with the authors' original intents, according to Saler:
"All three intended their imaginary worlds to re-enchant modernity in ways compatible with modern reason and secularism. They expected their worlds to be enjoyed through the double consciousness of the ironic imagination. Further, they believed that reason and the imagination were inextricable, and consciously used their imaginary worlds to advance animistic reason as an alternative to the narrow instrumental reason decried by cultural pessimists."
This work is not a history of how the fandoms developed in practice, but rather a discussion of the ideas involved in the genesis of these fandoms and their participatory cultures. Saler's chapters focusing individually on Conan Doyle, Lovecraft, and Tolkien suffer from scattershot organization and irrelevant tangents at times, but the theoretical framework Saler offers here for understanding the whys (Why this moment in time? Why these authors? Why these fans?) is both extremely useful and quite compelling.
At the heart of Saler's analysis is what he calls animistic reason, the marriage of reason and imagination (or what Edgar Allan Poe called "ratiocination," and fortunately Saler does recognize that Poe's C. Auguste Dupin was the first character to embody the trait). This more expansive concept of rationality appears in Conan Doyle's, Lovecraft's, and Tolkien's work, Saler says, and this explains why fans chose these texts as the settings for their "fantasy as social practice." Saler interprets these early virtual realities as efforts to combat what Max Weber in 1917 called "the disenchantment of the world," the loss of meaning created by the forces of modernity.
This fits with the authors' original intents, according to Saler:
"All three intended their imaginary worlds to re-enchant modernity in ways compatible with modern reason and secularism. They expected their worlds to be enjoyed through the double consciousness of the ironic imagination. Further, they believed that reason and the imagination were inextricable, and consciously used their imaginary worlds to advance animistic reason as an alternative to the narrow instrumental reason decried by cultural pessimists."
This work is not a history of how the fandoms developed in practice, but rather a discussion of the ideas involved in the genesis of these fandoms and their participatory cultures. Saler's chapters focusing individually on Conan Doyle, Lovecraft, and Tolkien suffer from scattershot organization and irrelevant tangents at times, but the theoretical framework Saler offers here for understanding the whys (Why this moment in time? Why these authors? Why these fans?) is both extremely useful and quite compelling.
August 11, 2013
As If : Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality by Michael Saler is one of the most fascinating and intellectually stimulating books I have read in a long time. It is also one of the most academic books I have read in an even longer time, but absolutely worth every hour I spent reading it. Anyone interested in science fiction, fantasy, the history of literature, concepts of modernity, or social interactions surrounding literature and imaginary worlds, such as discussion groups and fandoms for books, movies, and television shows, should read this book!
From the summary presented on the back of the book, “Many people throughout the world ‘inhabit’ imaginary worlds communally and persistently, parsing Harry Potter and exploring online universes. These activities might seem irresponsibly escapist, but history tells another story.” By examining the creation and development of literary genres such as science fiction and fantasy, which developed as part of the “New Romance” cultural movement aimed at re-enchanting a disenchanted modern world during the nineteenth century, Saler describes how we have developed the ability to “inhabit” multiple contingent realities. He then explores in more depth the specific virtual worlds created by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. P. Lovecraft, and J. R. R. Tolkein and the benefits and dangers of inhabiting these imaginary worlds.
On the whole, this is an excellently written book that explores the multiple ways that people interact with literature and each other around the topic of literature. It helped me reexamine my own literary preferences and reactions to books, movies, and television, and gave me a new way to talk with others about these topics. It also gave me a new appreciation for some of my favorite genres and stories.
From the summary presented on the back of the book, “Many people throughout the world ‘inhabit’ imaginary worlds communally and persistently, parsing Harry Potter and exploring online universes. These activities might seem irresponsibly escapist, but history tells another story.” By examining the creation and development of literary genres such as science fiction and fantasy, which developed as part of the “New Romance” cultural movement aimed at re-enchanting a disenchanted modern world during the nineteenth century, Saler describes how we have developed the ability to “inhabit” multiple contingent realities. He then explores in more depth the specific virtual worlds created by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. P. Lovecraft, and J. R. R. Tolkein and the benefits and dangers of inhabiting these imaginary worlds.
On the whole, this is an excellently written book that explores the multiple ways that people interact with literature and each other around the topic of literature. It helped me reexamine my own literary preferences and reactions to books, movies, and television, and gave me a new way to talk with others about these topics. It also gave me a new appreciation for some of my favorite genres and stories.
January 10, 2019
This a motivating, insightful and beautiful book. The central argument might not be the most original, but the way in which Saler leads us through it, into his own imaginary world, is simply brilliant.
September 3, 2013
This book, like Parzifal on the way to Camelot, has cared to dress itself in the candid colors of the genre he endeavours to defend, but that should not, hopefully, drive away too many of it's potential readers: Although Saler (to whom we owe the more orthodox 'The Avant-Garde in Interwar England: Medieval Modernism and the London Underground') time and again attempts, sometimes awkwardly, to bridge the gap between the fiction reading public and the essay/academia, his thesis proves compelling in it's scope and ambition, and his conceptualization rather adroit.
Behind that cover worth of the best straight-to-pdf crossover fan-fiction, the author develops a thesis rather enticing, which one could attempt to summarize like this:
The Fin-de-Sciecle developement of imaginary worlds in anglo-american popular romance, and the 'fantasy' genre that came to later crystallize around those fictional realms, constitutes a synthesis on the one hand, of aestheticist concerns with autonomous artistic wholes and on the other, of realist/naturalist attention to coherence and detail. Taking it's clue from the aestheticist resistance to disenchantment, the 'New Romance' (Saler's coinage for the proto-scifi of the likes of Rider Haggard) attempts to present a fictional decorum sufficiently coherent yet fantastical in it's implications, that the creative use of logic and rationality can be presented as itself fantastical.
Simultaneously those self-standing microcosms, built by the author to house one or more characters and stories, unexpectedly took a life of their own:
The readership who followed those stories, often in episodic form, developed what we would nowadays refer to as fandom, that is started to exchange and organize themselves, often independently from the author, communicating both as readers, and as part-takers in the fictional worlds themselves, through alteregos and performative belief, or through fanfiction. This interesting phenomenon, where the world of the original fiction, and to an extent the fictions themselves, are appropriated by the readers Michael Saler goes as far as to identify as the eponymous 'Litterary Prehistory of Virtual Realitiy";
Saler construct his argument around three concepts of varying value: the "Ironic Imagination", "Animistic Reason", and the "Public Spheres of the Imagination". Starting his book by long but learned and enjoyable outline of the theoretical background of his work, and of the historical context that saw the emergence of the phenomenon he plans to chronicle, the author offers a roughly chronological introduction to his canon of the New Romance, before leading us to the three case-studies that illustrate his thesis: Conan Doyle, Lovecraft, Tolkien, and, of course, the persistent realities of their respective fictions.
Of those three concepts, the 'Public Spheres of the Imagination' is particularly compelling, an other is interesting but remain nebulous (the 'ironic imagination') whereas the third one, 'animistic reason', I find to be lacking both in terms of the concept itself, and of the presentation the author gives of it.
Without getting into too much detail let me just say that the book's thesis is very ambitious, and that in the limited space the author allowed himself, I believe he has done pretty well: the problem is maybe that such an analysis would have demanded more theoretical grounding (although that which is provided is quite fine). Also, the focus on three case studies spread out over fifty year span forbids Saler to either pin point a 'Virtual Turn' nor to provide a comprehensive parallel of the fandom subculture with the development of those collective imaginaries.
The writing is quite often redundant, stressing in a variety of wording the same notion throughout the book, rather than simply appealing to the terminology Saler established early in his conceptualization: this might make for an easy read to those who absorb little chunks by little chunks, but to those voracious readers like me, it sometimes feel like brainwashing, and I was left wishing he had used the substantial space occupied by those various rehearsals of his central concepts to explore more liminal or specific cases such as conspiracy theories, the occult, scifi politics, or it's relation to utopia or anachronisms.
On the whole it seems that Saler keeps his distance with those thorny subjects because he intends his book as much as a scholarly study of an interesting phenomenon, namely the collective appropriation of fictions by the readers, as it is a panegyric and a defense of a particular genre against the nowadays much blunted attacks of an uninformed public, eager to find escapism, delusional or sheer satanic perversion, in any engagements with imaginary beyond those sanctioned by the conservative mainstream. I am not sure that such a defensive crusade is much needed nowadays, and even if it was, the tone and the cover of the book would certainly suffice to ward off any evangelical parent eager to understand their kid's sudden passion for Dungeons and Dragons.
To conclude in a word, Saler's book might have been over-ambitious: although he develops very novel and interesting concepts, by trying to be all things to all men, he falls short of developing those concepts as far as one could wish him to, and the reader closing his book on the conclusion might just have to hope that Saler's future books will take up his argument where he left it.
Behind that cover worth of the best straight-to-pdf crossover fan-fiction, the author develops a thesis rather enticing, which one could attempt to summarize like this:
The Fin-de-Sciecle developement of imaginary worlds in anglo-american popular romance, and the 'fantasy' genre that came to later crystallize around those fictional realms, constitutes a synthesis on the one hand, of aestheticist concerns with autonomous artistic wholes and on the other, of realist/naturalist attention to coherence and detail. Taking it's clue from the aestheticist resistance to disenchantment, the 'New Romance' (Saler's coinage for the proto-scifi of the likes of Rider Haggard) attempts to present a fictional decorum sufficiently coherent yet fantastical in it's implications, that the creative use of logic and rationality can be presented as itself fantastical.
Simultaneously those self-standing microcosms, built by the author to house one or more characters and stories, unexpectedly took a life of their own:
The readership who followed those stories, often in episodic form, developed what we would nowadays refer to as fandom, that is started to exchange and organize themselves, often independently from the author, communicating both as readers, and as part-takers in the fictional worlds themselves, through alteregos and performative belief, or through fanfiction. This interesting phenomenon, where the world of the original fiction, and to an extent the fictions themselves, are appropriated by the readers Michael Saler goes as far as to identify as the eponymous 'Litterary Prehistory of Virtual Realitiy";
Saler construct his argument around three concepts of varying value: the "Ironic Imagination", "Animistic Reason", and the "Public Spheres of the Imagination". Starting his book by long but learned and enjoyable outline of the theoretical background of his work, and of the historical context that saw the emergence of the phenomenon he plans to chronicle, the author offers a roughly chronological introduction to his canon of the New Romance, before leading us to the three case-studies that illustrate his thesis: Conan Doyle, Lovecraft, Tolkien, and, of course, the persistent realities of their respective fictions.
Of those three concepts, the 'Public Spheres of the Imagination' is particularly compelling, an other is interesting but remain nebulous (the 'ironic imagination') whereas the third one, 'animistic reason', I find to be lacking both in terms of the concept itself, and of the presentation the author gives of it.
Without getting into too much detail let me just say that the book's thesis is very ambitious, and that in the limited space the author allowed himself, I believe he has done pretty well: the problem is maybe that such an analysis would have demanded more theoretical grounding (although that which is provided is quite fine). Also, the focus on three case studies spread out over fifty year span forbids Saler to either pin point a 'Virtual Turn' nor to provide a comprehensive parallel of the fandom subculture with the development of those collective imaginaries.
The writing is quite often redundant, stressing in a variety of wording the same notion throughout the book, rather than simply appealing to the terminology Saler established early in his conceptualization: this might make for an easy read to those who absorb little chunks by little chunks, but to those voracious readers like me, it sometimes feel like brainwashing, and I was left wishing he had used the substantial space occupied by those various rehearsals of his central concepts to explore more liminal or specific cases such as conspiracy theories, the occult, scifi politics, or it's relation to utopia or anachronisms.
On the whole it seems that Saler keeps his distance with those thorny subjects because he intends his book as much as a scholarly study of an interesting phenomenon, namely the collective appropriation of fictions by the readers, as it is a panegyric and a defense of a particular genre against the nowadays much blunted attacks of an uninformed public, eager to find escapism, delusional or sheer satanic perversion, in any engagements with imaginary beyond those sanctioned by the conservative mainstream. I am not sure that such a defensive crusade is much needed nowadays, and even if it was, the tone and the cover of the book would certainly suffice to ward off any evangelical parent eager to understand their kid's sudden passion for Dungeons and Dragons.
To conclude in a word, Saler's book might have been over-ambitious: although he develops very novel and interesting concepts, by trying to be all things to all men, he falls short of developing those concepts as far as one could wish him to, and the reader closing his book on the conclusion might just have to hope that Saler's future books will take up his argument where he left it.
July 24, 2012
Fascinating and enlightening look at the prehistory of fandom, from the late 19th Century to the mid-20th. I hadn't realized that fanfic, zines, convetions, cosplay predated Star Trek, aside from the bookish Worldcons. Saler reveals a world of Sherlockain fandom, Lovecraftian mult-author shared worlds, and a tension in Tolkien between the "as if" and the "just so" that continues through modern MMORPGs.
As If is short, and an easy and quick read. Even so, there are redundancies, and the two back chapters, psychologically focused biographies of Lovecraft and Tolkien, don't fit seamlessly with the more theoretical and socio-cultural introductory and Holmes chapters. The turn to the personal, and reading works through the author's life, is an odd departure for a work focused on the early history and role of shared imaginary worlds. Still, the chapters are interesting, and pass quickly, but the meat of the book is in its well-reasoned beginning.
This is well worthwhile for anyone with an interest in fannish things generally, or fan studies specifically - the academic parts are graceful and painless, and yet will give even the most jaded and overburdened scholar some fascinating new ideas and conceptual tools.
As If is short, and an easy and quick read. Even so, there are redundancies, and the two back chapters, psychologically focused biographies of Lovecraft and Tolkien, don't fit seamlessly with the more theoretical and socio-cultural introductory and Holmes chapters. The turn to the personal, and reading works through the author's life, is an odd departure for a work focused on the early history and role of shared imaginary worlds. Still, the chapters are interesting, and pass quickly, but the meat of the book is in its well-reasoned beginning.
This is well worthwhile for anyone with an interest in fannish things generally, or fan studies specifically - the academic parts are graceful and painless, and yet will give even the most jaded and overburdened scholar some fascinating new ideas and conceptual tools.
February 6, 2022
The author, Michael Saler, examines the fandoms that developed around Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, and JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth. Saler contends that many people have responded to the disenchantment of the modern world by reenchanting existence through fantasy worlds. This is done without being confused about what is real. (Perhaps it's analogous to something like imaginary numbers -- there isn't a square root of minus one, but let's act as if there is and see what we can do.)
This book is not an easy read, as much of it is written at a high level of abstraction. Nevertheless, there's a lot of interesting ideas here, very worth exploring. Five stars.
This book is not an easy read, as much of it is written at a high level of abstraction. Nevertheless, there's a lot of interesting ideas here, very worth exploring. Five stars.
January 25, 2022
Very interesting book on the growth of communal fandom around the fictional realities found permeate in pop culture i.e. Lord of the Rings, MCU, Harry Potter. Saler discusses how these fantasy works allow for groups to build off of the source material, allowing for new expressions of cultural imagination that supplements the feelings of disenchantment from capitalist modernity that many feel.
This is a special emphasis on the early emergence of these fandoms with a strong emphasis on the works and communities that sprung out of Sherlock Holmes, H.P. Lovecraft, and JRR Tolkien's work, so if one is interested in any of those guys, this book is for you.
This is a special emphasis on the early emergence of these fandoms with a strong emphasis on the works and communities that sprung out of Sherlock Holmes, H.P. Lovecraft, and JRR Tolkien's work, so if one is interested in any of those guys, this book is for you.
June 10, 2017
If you're interested in fantasy or fiction and/or understanding how and why we read, love, and interact with some of the biggest novels, this book is a must read. Saler's academic study explores our mental relationship with fiction, and the way we inhabit fictional worlds even after we've put the book down.
September 25, 2019
Técnicamente sería 3,5. Está bien, da muchos datos y plantea alguna idea interesante. Se vuelve, sin embargo, un poco repetitivo, se echa de menos un panorama histórico más amplio de la representación ficcional (en tiempo y espacio, para proponer lo que propone con el espacio que le dedica el recorte es estrecho y demasiado tajante).
May 12, 2021
Interesting book telling about the historically enchanted, re-enchanted and the disenchanted enchanted with the ironic imagination that's around today. Focuses these aspects around extensive history, facts and examples regarding the lives and work surrounding H.P. Lovecraft, Conan Doyle and J.R.R. Tolkien. Real interesting to read.
October 24, 2024
I liked this quite a bit, but three minor criticisms:
1. His use of "as if" is far better than the much muddier "just so"
2. The references of Jane McGonigal's prediction that serious games could change the world aged very poorly
3. Frequently gets caught up in unnecessary biographical details and tangents
1. His use of "as if" is far better than the much muddier "just so"
2. The references of Jane McGonigal's prediction that serious games could change the world aged very poorly
3. Frequently gets caught up in unnecessary biographical details and tangents
July 15, 2012
An interesting treatise on the history of modern enchantment--the virtual societies created around fictional characters and worlds. What seems common place in this day and age, with Stark Trek conventions, fan fiction, and Comic Con, was unusual at the turn of the century, that readers would take the author's work as a starting point to expand on their imagined worlds. The book traces the growth of societies and clubs devoted to Sherlock Holmes, the followers of H.P. Lovecraft, and the cult of the Lord of the Rings. That last one was most interesting for me, since I have read all the books, unlike Sherlock Holmes or Lovecraft, so that was the section to which I could most relate. The author traces the process by which Tolkein and the others created their virtual worlds, and how they came to exist for many fans outside of the actual books. Although the topic was interesting, the writing was rather dry and repetitive which took away from my enjoyment. If you're a sci fi or fantasy enthusiast you may find it worth reading to trace the origins of our modern-day fandom.
October 30, 2013
While being dry and difficult to read at times, this book really changed my perception of the fantasy genre. Instead of just being pure escapist stories, they allow us to live in this double consciousness of believing while keeping our reason. I really liked how Saler traced the evolution of our society from the Victorian belief in the novel to our era of double consciousness that we have today. An angle that I wasn't expecting from this book was his study of the three authors themselves and how that often contrasted with what they were writing. The study of Tolkien and Conan Doyle were especially enlightening because it really showed some ironic points in their fiction, as well as evolution over time in their beliefs. I found the Lovecraft section the hardest to follow mostly because I am not at all familiar with his work.
December 20, 2022
Solid academic literature research. A lot of invaluable primary research looking into literary magazines, fanzines, and more. Compelling explanation of why today nerdy and geeky fiction is so mainstream, as in Marvel cinematic universe and popular Star Trek movies directed by The Fast and Furious director and so on. Might be tedious to read for non-academics but so long as you skip the footnotes it will be smooth sailing. Although the footnotes offer a lot of geeky and nerdy stuff like elaboration on like H.P. Lovecraft's personal life and milieu.
November 29, 2012
Strictly for geeks, this is a review of the first books that spawned participatory fandom: Sherlock Holmes, Tolkien, and other sci-fi/fantasy. Really interesting analysis and history. I particular enjoyed reading about how fans of these books, especially when they got together for reenactments and so forth, were disparaged as juvenile, just like Comic-Con goers today.
October 24, 2013
Apollonian logic and Dionysian desires in tune.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews