Life & Wisdom Quote by Lloyd Alexander

Fantasy is often dismissed as escape; Lloyd Alexander quietly flips it into a form of precision reporting. His “imaginary world” isn’t a detour from reality but a controlled lab where messy human dynamics can be isolated, enlarged, and tested without the noise of literal circumstance. The key phrase is “in some strange way”: Alexander acknowledges the paradox that invention can feel truer than transcription. Made-up kingdoms let a writer say what polite realism sometimes can’t, because the reader’s defenses are lower when the names and costumes are unfamiliar.

The intent is craft-based, almost practical. Alexander is describing a method for reaching “central issues” - not trivia, not lore for lore’s sake, but the emotional engine: loyalty, fear, shame, tenderness, power. By moving those forces into a fabricated setting, the writer can dramatize them cleanly. A quarrel between siblings can become a conflict between heirs; a coming-of-age doubt can become a literal quest. The stakes scale up, but the feelings stay recognizable.

Subtextually, he’s also defending the moral seriousness of genre writing. “Real people” and “real human relationships” are the destination, not the fantasy furniture along the way. Coming from a 20th-century author best known for young adult fantasy, Alexander is pushing back against the idea that stories for younger readers are simpler. He’s arguing that the mask of the imaginary doesn’t hide the truth; it gives the truth permission to speak.