Neo- Classicism

The term neo-classicism is sometimes honored but often lamented. The century’s keen interest in ancient civilization and its attempt to resurrect and apply classical ideas in to life and letters is clearly seen in this period. The Latin poets and critics of this period were considered as the best models and ultimate standards of literary taste. The earlier 18^th century poets and critics of English literature felt honour in being able to copy these poets and critics. Hence they were called Neo-classicists.

The period was also called Augustan age, which came from the self-conscious imitation of the original Augustan writers Virgil and Horace by many writers. They flattered themselves that with them English life and literature had reached a culminating period of civilization, corresponding to that which existed at Rome under the emperor Augustus.

18^th century was more educated than the centuries before. Education was no more an upper-class phenomenon. Contribution to literature, science, philosophy etc. came from all parts of the United Kingdom. It was an age of Enlightenment.

In reality the neo-classicist writers largely misunderstood the classical spirit and thinking and produced only a pseudo, superficial imitation of the classical age. The majority of the writers belonged to the upper social stratum. They over emphasized the artificial conventions of the upper-class, looked the other classes with contempt. They professed that great ancient writers like Homer and Virgil had already discovered the fundamental laws of the nature. If the modern writers followed the paths of the ancient writers, they could express the external world, including the world of human action.

The following are the important changes that happened in literature during the eighteenth century.

ü  Rapid development of the novel

ü  An explosion in satire

ü  The mutation of drama from political satire into melodrama  

ü  Evolution towards poetry of personal exploration

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Characteristics of neo-classical literature

The neo-classicists followed the conventional uniformity in manners and speech. Reason and regularity was their guiding stars. They had little appreciation for the external nature or any beauty other than formalized art. This had resulted in the emergence of artificiality in place of naturalism

In poetry importance was given to abstractness of thought and expression, resulting in artificiality & superficiality. Suppression of passion and emotion are visible in neo-classical literature. It was a literature of intelligence not a literature of passion or creative genius. The language of poetry was artificial and mannered; the humbler aspects of life and literature were ignored.

•              Closed Heroic Couplet:

Poetry was written in closed heroic couplet. Unlike the poets of Elizabethan and restoration, the neo-classicist barely tried other forms

Moving from the renaissance period to the period of neo-classicism is a climbing down. Narrowed creative vision from cosmic vision to social view, from a heroic nature of man to a smaller issue in life is the other characteristics of this period. 

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Characteristics of Renaissance Literature

Humanism

     

     Renaissance art was driven by a new notion of humanism. Man began to take interest in his own world rather than the other world. View of literature was predominantly ethical. The moral teaching was secular, not religious. Man began to perceive the positive aspects, his dignity and value rather than the dark and sinful side.

The spirit of discovery and adventure

     The influence of the spirit of discovery and adventure runs through the Renaissance literature. In Shakespeare’s England ocean became the highway of national progress. The spirit of adventure is clearly seen in the renaissance drama. Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Pericles, Merchant of Venice Marlow’s Dr. Faustus, and Tamburlaine etc. are some examples. This spirit helped to create a general tendency to explore all aspects of nature and the world.

The Revival of Classical Learning

     Plato and Aristotle lend immense influence on the renaissance. The revival of classical works and authors influenced to mold and shift the style and technique of literature. Thomas More’s Utopia and Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis have introduced new plot and theme to literature.

Scientific Outlook

     The scientific spirit got changed with the publication of Copernicus’ “On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres” in 1543. The Copernican system replaced astrology with astronomy. Science and art were intermingled in the early renaissance with artists like Da Vinci entering the field of medicine, aerodynamics, anatomy etc. The previously held truths were questioned and new results were sought in this period of scientific advancement

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The Renaissance

Renaissance: the Beginning

The term Renaissance means revival or rebirth. It was originated in Italy and then spread to Germany, France and England. The renaissance revived almost all the spheres of human life including science, education, politics, religion; philosophy literature etc. this era bridged the gap between the medieval age and the modern age. The middle age was believed to be a dark age. 15^th century in English literature was a barren period. Renaissance was thus a coming out of the dark and barren period.

The period

It was a process of change, which made its appearance around the middle of the 14^th century, prospered during the 15^th & 16^th. By the century, it became part of the larger tradition and ceased to be a new force.

The historical reason

Various theories have been proposed for the origin of the renaissance in Italy. The fall of the Constantinople is the prominent among them. Constantinople was captured by an invading army of the Ottoman Empire in 1453. The attacks saw a large scale sacking and destruction the Byzantine centers of learning. Several Greek & other intellectuals fled the city during the 53 day siege along with their valuable libraries. They were sheltered in Florence by such wealthy families like the Medici.

The romans and Italians used this opportunity to know the work of Homer, Aristotle etc. at first hand. The young scholars & university students flocked to these sources of new learning, with every one eager to learn Greek language. This rediscovery of classics enlarged the spectrum of ideas, styles and genres.

The Reformation

The publication of Martin Luther’s “95 Theses” precipitated the reformation. It was a call to purify the Church and a belief that the Bible not tradition should be the sole source of spiritual authority. They skillfully used the power of the printing press. The reformist Christians, the Protestants, believed in the authority of the Bible, translated the Bible from Latin to various languages and distributed

Impact of Petrarch

Petrarch can be seen as the epitome of the renaissance literary theorists and practitioners.  He was deeply involved in the campaign to rediscover ancient Greek and Latin writers and their values. His sonnets Canzoniere had a lasting impact on the renaissance. Thomas Wyatt & Earl of Surrey took this form to England. Shakespeare, Sidney, Spencer, Milton etc popularized it. They all are indebted to Petrarch.
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The Plot of Dattani’s “Tara”

In Tara Mahesh Dattani plays with the idea of female infanticide that is prevalent among the Gujaratis. His deep preoccupation with gender issues leads to the emergence of the idea of the twin side to one’s self – quiet literally embodied in one body and the separation that follows.

Chandan and Tara are conjoined twins. They must be separated for survival. The problem begins when it is recognized that it has been unequal, unfair operation. Even though the doctors were aware that the third leg would suit to Tara better than her brother, they took part in a conspiracy plotted by her family. As a result Chandan gets the second leg and Tara becomes a crippled.

Bharati, the mother of Tara, is anxious about the future of her daughter. She was afraid that the world would not accept Tara when she is a grown up. Her concerns and maternal love towards Tara becomes as part of the burden of guilt she possess.

Chandan enjoyed great preference, while Tara was left to enjoy the position of a subaltern. Tara was more enthusiastic and had high dreams and aspirations, which she couldn’t achieve since she was a handicapped. Bharati’s father further strengthened his indulgence for male grandchild by leaving his property after his demise to Chandan. When it comes to giving the education Tara’s father prefers only Chandan. If Tara had been given moral support by her parents, her life would not be the same.

It is noteworthy that discrimination against Tara continues even after her death. Chandan has changed their story into his own tragedy. He apologizes to Tara for doing so.

Tara is always discouraged, even though she is more intelligent, sharp and witty. Economic and cultural facts have been responsible for the pathetic status of the girl child. All these factors combine to create the social system in which the girl child has to live. Tara is killed by the social system, which controls the minds and actions of the people.

Harmony of mind, body and spirit in Sri Aurobindo’s “Is India Civilized”

Sri Aurobindo ranks high among the greatest personalities of modern India. He was a multifaceted genius, being a politician, social critic, educationalist, philosopher, man of letters etc. The essay “Is India Civilized” was originally serialized in the quarterly Arya from December 1918 to February 1919. It was basically a response to the attack of William Archer, a British critic, on Indian civilization.

Aurobindo begins by stating unequivocally how a culture or civilization may be evaluated. The true happiness in this world is the terrestrial aim of man, and true happiness lies in the finding and maintenance of a natural harmony of spirit, mind and body. According to Aurobindo happiness is the main goal of human life.

          In Aurobindo’s scheme of things, a human being possesses at least three levels of being – the physical, the mental and the spiritual. And what is more important, without a natural harmony between these three levels, we can never be really happy.

It also means that any country or society, which caters only to the body and the mind but leaves out the spirit, cannot achieve true happiness. A society which nourishes the spirit may attain very high levels of material prosperity. Our very nature is such that we cannot be truly happy until we have the opportunity to strive for perfection.

Pointing the western progress, he says a progress, targeting only on material element is not true progress. Only through the harmony of mind, body and spirit a person or a society can really achieve progress and happiness.

Natraj or Shiva as an artifact in Ananda Comaraswamy’s “The Dance of Shiva”

Ananda Kentish Comaraswamy was an extraordinary geologist, art scholar, collector, curator and philosopher. The essay “The Dance of Shiva” became the title piece of a collection of fourteen essays in 1918. The essay tries to explain the significance of the image of Nataraja, or the dancing Shiva. The dancing Shiva is a magnificent conception, both dynamic and controlled at the same time. This image is one of the greatest masterpieces of Indian art. Comaraswamy helps us to understand it better.

He starts by explaining one of the many names and aspects of Shiva – Nataraja or the master of the dance or the king of actors. He mentions three dances of Shiva- the evening dance at Kailasa, the Tandava, and finally the Nadanta dance at Chindambaram. It is one of the last that he focuses, because it is this dance that is depicted in the Nataraj Bronzes.

The legend behind this dance is that of the submission of the Rishis in the Taragam forest. These Rishis did not accept the divinity of Shiva, but are worsted in the fight. Shiva’s victory over Rishis suggests the victory of higher over the lower. The malignant dwarf underfoot may be taken to represent the ego.

Shiva with four arms, braided hair, Ganga in his locks on which rests the crescent moon, adorned with both men’s and women’s ornaments, left foot upraised and right hand in the abhay or reassuring gesture, thus represents a whole philosophy. The dual nature of Shiva, how he is both male and female, the skull of Brahma, the Ganga in his locks, the drum all these have stories and myths behind them.

The meaning behind the iconography of the dancing Shiva has, thus became an artifact in Komaraswamy’s essay.

The Door I Shut Behind Me. Uma Parameswaran

The door I shut behind me is a short story by Uma Parameswaran. The title of the short story reminds the Indian tradition of a bride leaving her parents’ home forever after marriage. The story explains an Indian leaving his country to become a possible immigrant in Canada. The simile is very apt as both the situation involves crossing over to a new life; this crossing over involves fear and uncertainty coupled with hope and desire.

The story opens with Chander, the protagonist, flying to Canada on a two year research associate ship, at an annual salary of $ 8500. Agarwal, the crude and loud fellow passenger who doesn’t have an immigrant visa feels envious of Chander. Agarwal appears to be a perfect portrait of an ugly person. The writer has analyzed the mindset of an average Indian who goes abroad, his obsession with money and savings as well as his dreams of luxury and comfort.

Agarwal criticize everything western. He says “our toilet habits are much cleaner”. For him the westerners are far behind in their appreciation of arts. The writer portraits the class of Indians, who criticizes the west and its culture, yet wants to stay abroad, earn money and lead a life of comfort and luxury.

Chander finds that Agarwal is nostalgic for his country and wanted to be with his own people and speak his own language. They visits Mundra’s house. Agarwal greeted every one with warm enthusiasm, but Chander was unable to do so. The people gathered were from different parts of India, but the language they spoke was English. They were all proud of speaking English.

They question of identity, whether they are Indians or Canadians, entangled them. They had not changed their food habits, their costumes. They wanted to go back, but like the mythological king Trihishanku, they stood suspended between two worlds, unable to enter either.

The story says when we leave our country we shut many doors behind us though we are not aware of it at the time. Chander replies “There are many doors ahead of us”. The story thus ends on a note of hope for the future. Uma Parameswaran endorses a positive approach; if people decide s to adopt another country to live in; they must not look back but look forward with hope.

The Bear on the Delhi Road. Earl Birney

The Bear on the Delhi Road is a poem by Earl Birney. The poem has five uneven verse paragraphs. The poet describes the sight of a huge Himalayan bear on a Delhi road. It was being brought down from the mountains by two Kashmiri men.

The poet says the bear is unreal. By the word unreal, the poet means away from his natural habitat. The Himalayan bears are supposed to live in the icy Himalayas. But now the bear is in an extremely contradictory habitat. Delhi is a hot place. The bear is facing a sudden climate shift. Thus the bear is unreal. Two bare thin Kashmiri men accompany him on the road. The first man pulls on a ring in the soft nose of the bear. The second one flicks with a stick up at the rolling eyes of the bear.

The third paragraph pictures the purpose of the two men. They have captured the bear not to kill it, but “simply to teach him to dance”. They want to make the bear a dancing bear in the great markets of Delhi, where his owners will earn a living from his performances. It is a wild animal, by teaching him to dance, the men takes him away from his natural way of living. Thus again the bear is made unreal.

We are told that the men are peaceful. All they want is a living. They want the bear to stay alive. They dance around him and want the bear to be like them on two legs and dance. They are also away from Kashmir’s cool air. The poem discusses the complex relation between our species and other animals and living an unreal life away from our natural places. 

Yakshagana

     Yakshagana is a unique traditional form of dance theatre prevailed in Karnataka. It was very popular in the southern districts of Karnataka. It combines dance, music, stage technique with a distinct style, costume make-up etc.  Yakshagana consists of Himmela (background musicians) and Mummela (dance and dialogue group). Traditional music instruments like hand drum, harmonium, pipes etc were used in the drama.

     Yakshagana literally means the song of yaksha (the song of the nature spirit). The main essence of this form of dance is its attachment with religion, which provided the most common themes for the plays. Stories of battles taken from the epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata were used to portray. Traditionally this music drama played in temples and village squares. A bhagavata (story teller) used to narrate the story while actors dance to the music.  

     The performance used to begin at midnight and would go on all night. For almost one hour the drums were being used in a particular rhythm. After this the actors would appear on the stage wearing costumes ready to enact various roles. The costumes are rich in colour, decorated with pieces of mirror and colored stone. Sari and other decorative ornaments are also being used in the performance.   

Ecriture Feminine: Helene Cixous

     

     In ‘The Laugh of the Medusa’ (1976) Helene Cixous introduces a new ways of thinking and writing about women and literature.  It is called Ecriture feminine (feminine writing). A feminine text is designed to smash and shatter all the frame work of institutions created by the male authority.

     Feminine writing acknowledges its rootedness in the body. She urges the women saying, “Write yourself, your body must be heard”. Since it is the female body, it has been repressed historically by male theology, philosophy and social system. Theology openly repressed the body advocating the negation of body and desires and in particular the female body, which is regarded as a source of temptation and often as unclean. Writing with the body implies a return of the repressed. It expresses the individuality of the self. This new writing expressing the new woman will resist the myths and language introduced by men

     This new insurgent writing will cause a break in the history of woman at two levels

• It will affect a return of woman to her body, whereby she can realize ‘decensored’ relation to her sexuality
• When she seizes the occasion to speak, this will mark her “shattering entry into history”. It will confirm a place for her other than that is reserved by the male institution and history

The Laugh of the Medusa: Helene Cixous

     ‘The Laugh of the Medusa’ (1976) is a seminal essay by the French writer and feminist Helene Cixous. Her peculiar contribution to literature, Ecriture feminine (feminine writing) is expressed in this work. The work is structured like a poem as a refusal to the conventional rhetoric formats of argumentation. The ‘arguments’ of this text is based on the materiality of language, the texture of words and effects of word combination etc. The work is not circling around any central metaphor, since according to Cixous the very notion of centrality is transitory.

     Cixous charges that “Men have riveted us between two horrifying myths: between the Medusa and the abyss”. The ‘Abyss’ refers to the connotation of Freud’s designation of women as a ‘dark continent’ – difficult to analyze and understand. She denies this myth.

     Medusa was traditionally portrayed as a monster; with snakes in place of her hair. She was once renowned for her loveliness. Her hair was attractive. Poseidon (God of the Sea) robbed her of her virginity and punished her by changing her hair into revolting snakes and made her face so terrible.

     The myth of Medusa represents the repression of female sexuality and beauty. Cixous concentrate on the Medusa prior to the repression of her sexuality, prior to her changing into a monster. For Cixous laughter is a symbolic mode of refusing the male concept of history and truth as defined by masculine traditions of thought. She adds that A feminine text is designed to smash and shatter all the frame work of institutions, to blow up the truth and break up the ‘truth’ with laughter

     Cixous urges for the breaking of myths related to women. to redeem woman from the degraded status in the history of male mythology she has to demolish all such myths and start writing. She urges the women saying, “Write yourself, your body must be heard”

Kirtanya Natak

Kirtanya Natak was one of the indigenous performing arts of India. The word kirtanya is derived from the word kirtan. This form of art is prevailed in the North Bihar from the 14^th to the 20^th century. It is a dramatic performance of the acts of Lord Krishna. It was enacted on certain special occasions. The play is introduced by a Suthradhara. By his entry the benedictory song (Nandi Geeth) would stop. As far as language is concerned, the use of Maithili, Sanskrit and Prakrit can be detected. The male characters used Sanskrit while the female and lower characters used Prakrit. The songs were generally in Maithili.

The troops are generally called Jamati that contained between three to eleven members. They perform the roles of nayak or hero, nayika or heroine, sakhi or female confidant, clown, orchestra etc. the themes were mostly taken from the puranas and other legends. 

Dissociation of Sensibility

The phrase Dissociation of Sensibility appeared in Eliots essay on ‘The Metaphysical Poets’. A good poetry is the result of the fusion of thought and feeling. Such fusion is called ‘Unification of Sensibility’. It is the opposite of dissociation of sensibility. Metaphysical poets have strictly followed this unification, but according to Eliot this fusion of thought and feeling characteristic had been progressively lost in the 17^th century. It is a loss from which we have never recovered. Eliot complained that the influence of Milton and Dryden caused this dissociation of sensibility. Bad poetry is the result of this dissociation of sensibility, lack of fusion between thought and feeling.

By ‘sensibility’ Eliot means a synthetic faculty which can amalgamate and unite thought and feeling, the sensuous and the intellectual. The acceptance of the Elizabethans is due to the unified sensibility that they possessed. This capacity is visible in the works of John Donne. After Donne and Herbert poets lost this power of unification, they could either think or they could feel. The 18^th century poets were intellectuals, they though hardly felt. The Romantics felt but did not think.

For Eliot if the poets of the 20^th century are willing to imitate the metaphysical poets this breach might be healed. 

Objective Correlative

     Objective Correlative is one of the most important critical concepts of T.S.Eliot. Eliot’s idea of poetic impersonality finds its formulation in this concept. Eliot described this concept in his famous essay “Hamlet and his Problems”. He believed that the poet is unable to transfer his/her emotions and ideas directly to the reader. Thus there must be some sort of mediation. Eliot says “The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an ‘objective correlative’; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked.”

     

     Through this objective correlative the transaction between the author and the reader takes place. Thus what the author has to say is objectified. These objects can be a situation, certain inanimate objects, and characters etc. The external actions or objects are representing the internal emotions of the characters. The sleep waking scene, candle, comments relating to the perfumes of Arabia, smell of blood etc. in Macbeth gives us the picture of Lady Macbeth’s emotional and mental state.

     Shakespeare has failed to find suitable objective correlative in his drama Hamlet. Hamlet’s suffering is not conveyed properly by any character or any action in the play. Thus for Eliot Shakespeare’s Hamlet is an artistic failure. Eliot admired Dante’s poetry and its visual imagination because Dante did not lose his grasp over the objective correlative.

     The worldwide loss of vision in José Saramago’s Blindness, the car in Stephen King’s Christine, Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird etc. are examples of objective correlatives.  

Pathetic Fallacy

A literary device wherein something nonhuman found in nature like animals, plants, natural forces etc. functions as if from human feeling or motivation or thought. The term was coined by John Ruskin in his book Modern Painters. The description will be imaginary and fanciful. The term pathetic here uses in a derogatory senses- as imparting emotions to something else. In literature inanimate objects found in the nature are often being used to mirror the mood of a person. E.g. angry tides, smiling stars etc. Victorian writers and Gothic novelists abundantly used this technique in their works. 

Examples

Wordsworth uses the image of cloud to picture the feeling of loneliness.

 I wandered lonely as a child

 That floats on high o’er vales and hills

Mary Shelley in her Frankenstein has used the pathetic fallacy effectively. 

 The desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have  wandered here many days; the caves of ice, which I only do not  fear, are  a dwelling to me, and the only one which man does  not grudge

The creature tells his pathetic and desolate life to his creator, Frankenstein. The desolate glaciers and desert mountains explains his status to the reader.

Touchstone Method. Matthew Arnold

To find which poetry is the best, Arnold suggests a method known as touchstone method. This method was introduced into literature by Matthew Arnold in his work “The Study of Poetry”. Touchstone is a stone on which gold is rubbed to test its quality. In a metaphorical usage Arnold says that the great masters of the past are suitable touchstones to test the quality of the poems of the coming generations. Some model lines from Homer, Shakespeare, and Milton will be used as touchstones to test new poems. It uses the method of comparing and evaluating. The lines may be different but there is one thing common in them, “the very highest poetic quality”.

He quotes, from Homer: “In his will is our peace”. From Shakespeare, “If though didst ever held me in thy heart/Absent thee from felicity awhile, /And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain/To tell my story….. :(Dying words of Hamlet to Horatio) and from Milton, “And the courage never to submit or yield/And what is else not to be overcome….” (Paradise Lost Book,) etc.

These few lines can guide us properly to judge our own and others poems properly. From these great masters we can understand how they beautifully express the meaning in fine structure and diction.

Thus according to this method Chaucer, Dryden, Pope and Shelley fall short of the best, because they lack high seriousness. Arnold’s ideal poets are Homer and Sophocles in the ancient world, Dante and Milton and among moderns Goethe and Wordsworth. He puts Wordsworth in the front rank not for his poetry but for his criticism of life.

Carpe diem

The meaning of this Latin term is ‘Seize the Day’. It is taken from book 1 of Horace’s Odes. It says that future is unforeseen and that one should not leave to chance future happenings, but rather one should do all one can today to make one’s future better.

Unlike the Epicurean ideas Carpe diem never ignores future, but rather not to trust that everything is going to fall into place for you and taking action for the future today. The following are some related expressions of Carpe diem:

“And if not now, then when”,

“You only live once”

Andrew Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress is best recognized as a Carpe diem poem

But at my back I always hear

Time’s winged chariot hurrying near

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

Roman a clef (Novel with a Key)

Roman a clef is a French phrase meaning novel with a key. In a Roman a clef real people or events are described in fictional guise.  The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the key is the relationship between the non-fiction and the fiction. The term is believed to be created by the French writer Madeleine de Scudery. The reason for writing such a novel can be many such as

1. Satire
2. Writing about controversial topics
3. Information on scandals
4. Autobiographical elements without revealing the author

Examples

Point Counter Point (Aldous Huxley):  novel on D.H. Lawrence and Middleton Murray

The Sun also Rises (Hemingway): disguised life of the author in Paris

Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare’s Love Life (Anthony Burges) fictional biography of Shakespeare 

Four Humors of the Body

The four bodily humors were part of Shakespearean cosmology attributed from the Ancient Greek Philosophers Aristotle, Hippocrates etc. they are formed around the four elements of earth water, air, fire and earth, the four qualities of cold, hot, moist and dry and the four humors. These physical qualities determine the behavior of all created thing. The different personality types of the characters are also arranged in accordance with these humors.

Humors	Element	Season	Qualities
Melancholic	Earth	Winter	Cold & Dry
Phlegmatic	Water	Autumn	Cold & Moist
Choleric	Fire	Summer	Hot & Dry
Sanguine	Air	Spring	Hot & Moist

The Jacobean's thought of themselves as especially prone to Melancholy

Willing Suspension of Disbelief

The idea is proposed by Coleridge as a formula for justifying the use of fantastic or non-realistic elements in literature. To believe the supernatural and unbelievable, the spectator or reader suspends his critical faculties. In other words it’s a Sacrifice of realism and logic for the sake of enjoyment.

Coleridge suggested that if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative”

Examples

Life of Pi: Pi Patel has two stories to offer about what happened at the Pacific Ocean. The first story tells of a boy named Pi Patel, who survives on a life boat at Pacific Ocean with a Bengal Tiger, called Richard Parker. In the second story he replaces all the animals with humans, including his mother. The first story is a better story, but the second is the reasonable. The very structure of the story itself is designed to force the reader or viewer to subconsciously choose whether they are prepared to walk away from the “reasonable” to accept the better story.  If the reader or the audience is ready to suspend their ‘disbelieve’ the first story can be taken into account.

Superman: The storyteller tells the audience that, in this story, a man can fly and he comes from a distant planet called Krypton.  The audience suspends their disbelief and prepares themselves to enjoy the story.