Things Strike Doesn't Understand About Modern Literature

[Lemur]

Strike, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Fantasy is the default human narrative. Kitchen-sink realism is a relatively recent invention.

Look at the old stories, your Beowulfs and your Gilgameshes and your Iliads. They would all be shelved under "fantasy" if Pyr put them out tomorrow.

Fantastic literature feeds some sort of primal need in the human psyche. Why get worked up about it?

S&M literature, on the other hand, is a more recent vintage. As a completely unqualified sociologist and psychologist, I'd suggest the rise in popularity has to do with nervousness about changing gender roles. (I suspect sexual dimorphism plays an unheralded role.)