The Clash of Ages! J.K. Rowling vs Neil Gaiman - Why Neither they, nor Martin, nor Atwood nor do any of them Matter - Why Homer still dominates and Haunts Us All
A Philosophical look at the pop-culture clash
Men are haunted by Eternity.
This is one of the opening and closing lines of the great 2004 movie Troy, which still stands as one of the greatest movies of that era. The idea of eternity permeates the movie, as the men in the film speak fearfully of what might lie after them, or longingly for what those who lie ahead of them might say.
When reading the Odyssey, one can see that Odysseus is a true hero, he embodies a great many virtues and vices, and that Homer’s voice reaches across the centuries. The things that haunt Odysseus, the longing for home, the love for wife, son and dog burn him as a fire might. Homer speaks well of the things that man loves most and treasures and needs above all other things.
It is why in these modern times, we struggle so much. The notion of Eternity haunts us ever more. We are deprived of ever more of what makes life worth living; family, love, faith, friendship and so many other things that our ancestors had in abundance.
As a youth, when I first saw that amazing movie I was moved. I loved Homer, and loved mythology more than anyone could ever imagine. To me those stories were greater than anything that had come out in almost all of history. Then I found Tolkien, and discovered that yes, someone had peered into the distant past and retrieved some element of it. He had rescued it from the ravages of modernity and had brought to life tales of mythology, of heroism, of beauty such that few can even imagine.
This begs the question; what is it that makes Homer, Virgil, Tolkien, Howard, Dunsany, Hugo, Dumas, Dickens, Shakespeare, De Troyes and so many others so eternal? Why is it we cling to them while the works of other writers day by day fade away into the past, forgotten, mocked with the children of the next generation utterly indifferent to them.
I can only guess that part of it are the themes of men haunted by greatness and Eternity, and aspiring after more than themselves or many of them chasing things many might take for granted such as; dogs, children, home, love, friendship and all these other things. There’s also notions like duty, freedom, justice and so on that permeate and haunt their various works.
All these things and more can be found in old tomes, and it is why so many love them more than what you might find in ‘pop-lit’ such as that of George R Martin, J.K. Rowling, Gaiman and so many others. Each of them made it big, each of them were carried along with the aid of a vast establishment media that dwarfs anything that’s ever come before in terms of propaganda/support.
They were favoured, cared for and protected to such an extent that one can group them together with other celebrities. Quite why the establishment chose to put together their own ‘literary celebrities’ doesn’t require much guesswork; as with everything else if you control the stories a society tells about itself like with the heroes it idolizes (actors/politicians), the deeds it considers worth idealizing (virtue signalling), or the values projected and verbalized by those at the top (such as tolerance) you control and can mould the society into whatever it is you want.