The numinous in America

[klwilliams]

At Westercon, both Lois McMaster Bujold and Michael Swanwich brought up the idea that fantasy needs to contain "the numinous", a spiritual or divine element, the supernatural. I've been thinking about that in regards to fantasy set in the United States. I find that stories with elves set in the downtown of a major city usually (though not always) feel grafted on, because elves aren't something that started out in the U.S. Neil Gaiman's American Gods were gods brought over to the U.S. from other countries. There are good stories with Native American gods and mythology, but I've been wondering what "the numinous" means in the WASP, urban United States, without bringing over gods or mythologies from other continents.

Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series springs to mind, based as it is on American folk magic and the Mormon religion. While both have their roots in Europe, they are still distinctly American. (The Book of Mormon is, roughly, the story of Jesus traveling though North America bringing his Word to the Indians.) Nina Kiriki Hoffman's The Thread That Binds the Bones, and her other supernatural stories, are another example. Michaela Roessner's Vanishing Point, while more science fictional than fantasy, is set in the Winchester Mystery House and contains at least a supernatural (science indistinguishable from magic) element.

What are the numinous elements in, say, downtown Manhattan, or the Financial District of San Francisco, or even downtown Pocatello, Idaho? There are always ghosts. Neil Gaiman created the Endless. American churches, such as the Baptists or Presbyterians, don't have the same kind of almost-magical liturgy that Catholic-based churches have.

I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Comments

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

Oh, one more thing. You said:


As an "immersed" Baptist I'd have to disagree with that -- the ritual where the youngsters just coming into puberty are taught the dogma, and then dressed in white "sacrificial" robes and then dunked by the pastor with a blessing on their accepting Jesus as Savior is plenty magical. The candidate is ritually dressed and attended by the elders (male and female) of the Church, literally washed or reborn, depending on your particular liturgical point of view, and then re-dressed in new clothing and feted by the congregation.

I'd also have to say that in many churches the ritual of "speaking in tongues" and the translations thereof, as well as the overwhelming passion in revival meetings, have a great deal of the spiritual and magical in them.

(As it happened, the magic ended up not being the right flavor for me. But it's certainly called upon and used.)

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking more of the Sunday service. I went to Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches as a kid (though I wasn't baptized until I was in my 30's), and didn't find anything of the fantastic about them. I suspect that that is just me, though, since they obviously have that hold for many, many people.

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

Ah. Well, I ca't disagree too strongly with that, as I agree almost totally. The vanilla services are much as you describe. The sects more "out there" -- foot washing, speaking in tongues, etc -- and the black churches have more going on than the white suburban, for sure.