Escapist fiction

Escapist fiction is fiction that provides a psychological escape from thoughts of everyday life by immersing the reader in exotic situations or activities.

The term is not used favorably, though the condemnation contained in it may be slight. Those who defend works described as escapist from the charge either assert that they are not escapist—such as that a science fiction novel's satiric aspects address real life—or defend the notion of "escape" as such, not "escapism"—as in J. R. R. Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" and C. S. Lewis's quotation, in his "On Science Fiction" of Tolkien's question of who would be most hostile to the idea of escape, and his answer: jailers.

Genres that can include elements of escapist fiction include:

See also


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