tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post8950642115335208660..comments2024-03-29T08:20:50.011-04:00Comments on SleuthSayers: Suspension BridgeLeigh Lundinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-39806671047353733482017-06-12T09:00:48.099-04:002017-06-12T09:00:48.099-04:00Tagline for first Superman movie: "You'll...Tagline for first Superman movie: "You'll believe a man can fly." Sure enough, I did, or at least I suspended my disbelief. I'd been doing that since I was five or six and reading comic books and Greek myths. It's easy for me. What I have trouble believing is current reality.mybillcriderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-62687954323114421712017-06-11T21:59:18.626-04:002017-06-11T21:59:18.626-04:00Dale, thanks for mentioning your article. I like t...Dale, thanks for mentioning your article. I like that quote.<br /><br />Bonnie and Rob, I notice outside of Coleridge, the word ‘willing’ isn’t always used. I like to think that’s because an expert story-teller can seduce the senses that the recipient loses awareness of the real world and never quite knows when she or he enters that magic.<br /><br />ABA, as you know I like hard science fiction, so I find a John Brunner style much more believable. All the same, I loved adventure stories set in Africa or South America or even Mars, the kind where the story swept the reader along. Thank you for the links.<br /><br />John, thanks for that. As you say, good quotes from France and from our readers.Leigh Lundinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-87615118044656154582017-06-11T21:00:15.988-04:002017-06-11T21:00:15.988-04:00Interesting post, Leigh. Like Rob, I find "wi...Interesting post, Leigh. Like Rob, I find "willing suspension of disbelief" a useful phrase--but then,I'm a big Coleridge fan. How could we enjoy a poem such as "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" unless we consciously decide to shut down our usual tendency to say, "That couldn't really happen!" Works that present themselves as realistic portrayals of human experience can't expect readers to make such a complete suspension. But almost any work of fiction asks readers to suspend disbelief to some extent.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17673578800047888317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-12472940854126779892017-06-11T14:51:47.863-04:002017-06-11T14:51:47.863-04:00Leigh -- Interesting column! And great quotes on ...Leigh -- Interesting column! And great quotes on the subject, from you and in the comments as well.<br /><br />As usual, I love your title.John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-86500664290062069102017-06-11T14:49:04.589-04:002017-06-11T14:49:04.589-04:00Circumstances under which I'm willing to suspe...Circumstances under which I'm willing to suspend disbelief usually involve what I think of as 'believable' sci-fi and artificial intelligence, rather than LoTR-type fantasy.<br /><br />"[Science fiction is] that class of prose narrative treating of a situation that could not arise in the world we know, but which is hypothesised on the basis of some innovation in science or technology, or pseudo-science or pseudo-technology, whether human or extra-terrestrial in origin. It is distinguished from pure fantasy by its need to achieve verisimilitude and win the 'willing suspension of disbelief' through scientific plausibility."<br />Kingsley Amis<br /><br />A variety of thoughts from others on the subject:<br />1)http://www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/suspension-of-disbelief.html<br />2)http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief<br />3)https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/disbelief.htmlA Broad Abroadnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-64828090834254558822017-06-11T12:57:20.086-04:002017-06-11T12:57:20.086-04:00I am used to hearing the phrase as "willing s...I am used to hearing the phrase as "willing suspension of disbelief," and it works just fine for me. By the way, it comes from Samuel Coleridge, 1817. Interesting piece, Leigh.Robert Loprestihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08844889305615182897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-45631687411828418672017-06-11T11:17:24.601-04:002017-06-11T11:17:24.601-04:00I did an article on suspension of disbelief last y...I did an article on suspension of disbelief last year in the context of a review of Ellery Queen's The Glass Village. My favorite quote on the subject is the one from Aristotle that heads up the article. "Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities." <br /><br />http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2016/03/the-glass-village-suspending-disbelief.html<br />Dale Andrewshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10553503281187956955noreply@blogger.com