Escaping with Neil Gaiman

THIS WEEK’S WINNER

Chris Daniel Loza, 22, is a self-confessed nerd who graduated this year from the Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering. He is currently reviewing for the board exam this November. "I’m unemployed (or more appropriately, a bum). By next year, I plan to go to the States (no, not to be a nurse; that’s so typical) and try to be a Natalie Portman groupie."

Books, especially fantasy literature, can take me to places so far removed from mine. Though similar emotions or struggles may imitate life, the realm of fantasy remains escapist fare. When I was young, I was amazed by fairy tales and mythologies. Heck, I even found Bible stories quite fascinating because of all the magic and show of might involved! Throughout high school I was obsessed with only one series of books – The Chronicles of Narnia. Add to that a few helpings of Marvel comics, some fantasy short stories, a few more fairy tales and the dreaded required readings in school and that summed up my reading list in high school. All that changed when I went to college and I was surrounded with a lot of bookstores. With my very limited allowance, I would sacrifice a day’s meal (or two or three) to buy a good book. As my reading interest soared, my weight plummeted. I was suspiciously branded an addict, anorexic, bulimic, or just plain sick at one point or another. But I’m digressing. Part of my exponentially increasing interest in the written word, I would read books recommended to me by friends or even those whose covers I just happened to like! With the burning passion to read, it was inevitable that my reading list would still include fantasy literature. Aside from the different editions of The Chronicles of Narnia, I read the Wheel of Time (until it got ho-hum), The Sword of Truth, and The Lord of the Rings, among others. Nothing really deep or profound as they were all bestsellers and epic by nature.

So when a great friend thrust upon me the novel American Gods, she thought that there would be an instant recognition. Instead I looked at her quizzically and said, "Who’s he?" upon seeing the author. Defying the forces of gravity, I saw blood surge to her face at such an alarming rate as to approach the speed of light. Then she boomed, in a voice that was trying to control an impending burst of anger, "THE AUTHOR OF THE SANDMAN?"

Blank stares.

Blink, blink.

More blank stares.

With great restraint, she hit my head with the book. I lost my balance and crashed to the floor. She was simply incapable of being gentle. After some kind strangers brought me to my feet, she blared at me again, "Don’t tell me you don’t know who Neil Gaiman is, you, Mr. Book Person!"

At the time, a good five years ago, I simply had no idea who Neil Gaiman was. "The Sandman? Graphic novels?" she said while knocking at my head. This must be how trees feel when pecked by woodpeckers, I thought to myself. I tried to hide the terror in my voice and told her in the calmest way that I didn’t know who Neil Gaiman was. I asked her in a soft, fading, quivering voice what American Gods was about and silently implored the high heavens that my precious life be spared. She was (and is) the BIGGEST Neil Gaiman fan, after all. "American Gods is about this guy named Shadow and also Wednesday…" Since then Neil Gaiman has become one of my staple authors.

American Gods

Some would argue that American Gods is not a good starting point to develop an interest in Gaiman’s works. Rabid, salivating, die-hard fans (read: my great friend) would, more often than not, usually recommend the usual suspects: The Sandman or Smoke and Mirrors, or even Neverwhere. But I got hooked on Gaiman because of American Gods.

For me, American Gods is a biting social commentary on the fickleness and ungratefulness of America towards its cultural heritage. Borrowing characters from different mythologies, Gaiman was able to craft a dark, shadowy story on the battle for beliefs between the traditional gods and the more recent ones people are prostrating themselves before, namely the Internet, credit cards, technology. It also expresses how much of America is derived or borrowed. The immigrants who moved to America brought, along with their hopes for a better life, their cultures and beliefs, thus the title. But with the advent of technology, these gods are being driven to extinction. They have now become obsolete, old, and impractical.

This more universal theme of displacement of religion and tradition rings true for all nations. In the face of technology, everything is analyzed and deconstructed. Science seeks a rational explanation for all things and with it goes the demystification of life. In the quest for truth, old notions are displaced and forgotten. Life becomes mechanical, practical… mundane. There’s no more mystery, no more magic. That makes life oh-so-tragic. And people who believe that oh-so pathetic. And I’m ranting coz I’m rhyming. Oh stop me, somebody… please.

Good Omens

If one finds American Gods dark and heavy, Good Omens is anything but. As light as a South Beach Diet, it details, in the funniest way, how Gaiman and Pratchett hope to bring down Armageddon. With funny characters (and even funnier names) racing against time to put a screech, delay, and halt the end of the world, the authors have created a book that pokes fun and marvels at the fallibility of human beings. In one of the more classic scenes, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Famine, has invented a classic dish (calorie-counting people! Get your books now and write this down!): a string bean, a pea, and a sliver of chicken breast aesthetically arranged on a china plate. Of course, with such scrumptious, mouth-watering, low-calorie cuisine it’s only available in the most exclusive of restaurants. And it’s expensive. Surely, the study of aesthetically arranging the cuisine involves higher education and PhDs. God knows how difficult it is to prepare that food. That alone is worth a dissertation! And with just a small china plate? Gosh! The possibilities of arranging those ingredients are infinite! Quite unsurprisingly, the moneyed are worshipping it. As Famine said, "I’ve never seen so many rich people so hungry." While more than half of Africa and Asia are starving, the more affluent ones are also starving. Such a delightfully twisted world!

One might wonder, then, why an angel and a demon would join forces to delay Armageddon considering the dreariness and despondency of the world. Why, despite the malevolent behavior and unscrupulousness of some people, ethereal beings on both ends of the moral spectrum would set aside their obvious differences to salvage humanity. What makes humans so unique, so special that they could bring the most bitter of enemies together? Well, immortals as they are, spending their whole ethereal existence in this world since creation, they’ve grown to love people.

And indeed, modesty aside, we are amazing creatures! There’s no one but us who can inflict such amazing things on ourselves like the Inquisition, genocide, terrorism, value-added tax, the Congress, the Senate! Ain’t life just grand? Crowley, the demon, even thought of sending a nice e-mail (they’re up to the times, you know!) to Hell to just pack up and come here to Earth because there’s nothing they can do that we haven’t done yet to ourselves and there are things that we’ve done that are beyond the wildest imaginations of Hell’s think tank. I mean, c’mon, the House of Representatives? Government officials? Hell wouldn’t think that we would be that dumb as to yield ourselves to such arrogance and incompetence. We are built into a world that’s against us in a hundred little ways (think of floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions) and yet we spend most of our energies making it worse (think of the people we elect in the government and value-added taxes). Hasn’t it been written that hell is empty and all the devils are here? But, and here’s the big BUT (no, not J. Lo’s behind), just as we can be more malignant than Hell could ever be, we could occasionally show more grace than Heaven ever dreamed of. And I’m not talking about politicians giving election money or their pork barrel. No, they don’t have grace or finesse. They’re as crude as unrefined oil. I’m talking about the few bright spots in the world — those who would donate their time and money without the press releases and publicity shots; those who would fight poverty and corruption; and those who live their lives, no matter how ordinary, as noble and as dignified as possible. Can’t you see now how eclectic the mix of human beings is? Just as we have PGMA and Bush, we’ve also had Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II and countless other unsung heroes who try to make life just a (teeny-weeny) bit better. We are a puzzlement, a question needing to be answered, a source of amusement to otherworldly beings (that is, if they do exist). From an objective point of view, literally lift yourself up (go to a very tall building or wherever) and (don’t jump!) see the world below. Life is so much more than what we see or what we go through. There’s more to life than our own misery. It is a fascinating, involving and evolving mystery. No matter how much you deconstruct life, tear it to pieces, analyze it, you’ll never get closer to the core of it unless you’ve lived it fully.

But lest you think that Good Omens is just an irreverent take on life, it’s not. It is, first and foremost, an encyclopedia of lost and trivial information. Did you know that the Earth’s a Libra? Or that the Devil has the best tunes but Heaven has the best choreographers? Or that some of the little pigs in that nursery rhyme went to Hades and feasted on human flesh? Bet you didn’t know those life-changing, more-controversial-than-Kris-Aquino’s-national-TV confessions until now! Well, there’s more in the book. After all, the complete title of the book is Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. Again, I’m digressing. This is the closest I can get to telling you to read this book. And upon reading this book, perhaps you’ll realize that, despite the spectacular ordinariness of life, it is still beyond our grasp, our understanding, and our imagination.

The Drive To Escape

It has often been said that life is stranger than fiction. No matter how strange or fantastical fiction can get, life is still stranger. Just read the memoirs of ordinary mortals like The Kiss, The Glass House, My Life in Orange, and Running with Scissors, among others and you’ll see how strange life is. Despite the enormous efforts to rob life of its mystery, it is still sublimely fascinating as it is deliriously heartbreaking. So when life overwhelms me, I pick up Good Omens (again) or any fantasy literature and immerse myself in those strange places inhabited by Four Horsemen, wizards, dragons, and witches, among other creatures. As I’ve said earlier, reading a fantasy book, whether as dark as American Gods, as funny as Good Omens, or as epic as Lord of the Rings, remains an escapist fare. If books can send you far from your miserable life and into another one that, perhaps, you can relate to; fantasy can blast you out of life’s orbit. They may not be that deep or that serious, and what you will get may not be an in-your-face lecture of human struggle. But to a thinking reader, fantasy may as well be the best representative of literature. Why? I’ll let Neil Gaiman answer that. In his short story (with a very loooong title) "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire" (Whew!), Gaiman wrote: "Fantasy is escapism, true. But is not the highest impulse in mankind the urge towards freedom, the drive to escape?"