You're forgetting

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Sunday, June 09, 2013, 10:46 (4196 days ago) @ Cody Miller
edited by Kermit, Sunday, June 09, 2013, 11:33

From all the dreams I've had and stories I've experienced, I sometimes feel like I've lived hundreds of lives

Exactly what I'm talking about. You haven't lived those lives. You've only lived your own. Do you watch COPS and think you've lived the life of a cop? Watch Mad Men and think you know what the 60s were really like? You're in the matrix…

Just because it's a story, a metaphor, a dream, a matrix, that doesn't make it less real to me - it's just a different beast is all. And I can learn from all of types and kinds. Whether I'm in-line with the author's intent or not, I can still take something meaningful and wonderful from their work. Sometimes an author's accidents can turn into fireworks for a reader, and I think that's worth celebrating.

Hence my 'the genius proves everybody right' comment.

I'm still not sure what is meant by "genius proves everybody right" (Original ource? It's an interesting thought. I'd like to know the context). Are you saying that the work of geniuses seems in accordance with what we know of reality? Here's a relevant quote from Tolkien in his essay "On Fairy Stories":

Probably every writer making a secondary world, a fantasy, every sub-creator, wishes in some measure to be a real maker, or hopes that he is drawing on reality: hopes that the peculiar quality of this secondary world (if not all the details) are derived from Reality, or are flowing into it. If he indeed achieves a quality that can fairly be described by the dictionary definition: “inner consistency of reality,” it is difficult to conceive how this can be, if the work does not in some way partake of reality. The peculiar quality of the ”joy” in successful Fantasy can thus be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth.

If your point is that much creative work is derivative and lacks this inner consistency of reality, in part because the work is inspired only by other works and the creators did not spend enough time attending to bringing their unique sense of the real into it, then I agree that yes, that is in line with my definition of derivative.

If your point is that consumption of fantasy renders us incapable of distinguishing reality from fantasy, or that first-hand experience is required to write, for example, a great war novel that rings true with veterans, and that knowledge acquired through other means (including fiction) can never suffice, even (and especially) when artfully infused with imagination and empathy, then I vehemently disagree.

Bonus points if you can respond without using the word "matrix." That'll also keep me from having to put my fist through my monitor.