Michelle
asked
Lev Grossman:
This has been an ongoing debate with my book group - was The Magicians intended to be a loving homage to Narnia/Potter/fantasy as a genre, or a cleverly designed send-up of the same that somehow managed to be cracking good fantasy anyway?
Lev Grossman
Both! Insofar as that's possible. But I think it is possible -- I think you can do both at the same time. The model for the Magicians (or one of them) was Watchmen, which I read as a harsh critique of superhero stories that only somebody who truly loved superhero stories and knew them inside out could have written/drawn. I wanted The Magicians to work the same way: loving homage and blistering critique. That's the thing about genres like fantasy -- critiquing them makes them stronger, not weaker. They respond well to tough-love. It forces them to evolve.
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