[5] Although similar themes and content occur in the literature of numerous cultures in many ages, the term "visionary fiction" was suggested by Renée Weber, professor of philosophy at Rutgers University, and used by John Algeo in a 1982 article describing recent examples and earlier precursors.
[7] While the basic definition of visionary fiction—the literary form that illustrates and demonstrates the process of growth in human consciousness—is now generally accepted, it remains an evolving genre with some controversy over what literature it includes.
It is a strange something that derives its existence from the hinterlands of man's mind—that suggests the abyss of time separating us from pre-human ages, or evokes a superhuman world of contrasting light and darkness."
In The Literature of Hope in the Middle Ages And Today, Flo Keyes endorses Jung's term, visionary fiction, while detailing the medieval romance's impact on modern Fantasy and Science Fiction: "Jung places greater value on what he calls visionary novels, novels in which fundamental human experiences are tapped and shaped and left to the individual to interpret.
Visionary fiction offers social justice movements a process to explore creating those new worlds....This term reminds us to be utterly unrealistic in our organizing, because it is only through imagining the so-called impossible that we can begin to concretely build it.
[14][15] Edward J. Ahearn's definition in Visionary Fictions: Apocalyptic Writing from Blake to the Modern Age,[16] is summarized thus on the book's jacket cover: "Visionary writers seek a personal way to explode the normal experience of the ‘real,’ using prophetic visions, fantastic tales, insane rantings, surrealistic dreams, and drug- or sex-induced dislocations in their work.
The primary characteristic of VF, according to the Visionary Fiction Alliance: "Growth of consciousness is the central theme of the story and drives the protagonist, and/or other important characters.
[17] The VF Alliance definition states: "[Visionary Fiction] embraces spiritual and esoteric wisdom, often from ancient sources, and makes it relevant for our modern life."
While Edward Ahearn's dark apocalyptic leaning in his definition may be extreme, it serves to remind that the spiritual conflicts addressed in VF are serious, existential, and often life-threatening in the process of becoming life changing.
Monty Joynes states, "The work is also ‘visionary’ in the aspect that the authors sometimes (or often) employ non-rational means such as dreams or extrasensory perceptions to develop the content of the book.
"[2] In his article "Visionary Fiction: Rediscovering Ancient Paths to Truth," Hal Zina Bennett addresses the use of paranormal elements in VF more mythically: "Like a shaman's stories of the spirit world, where the spirits of animals, trees, sky, or the stars teach us how to live, visionary fiction introduces us to a reality beyond physical reality.
A detective story with a mentalist as the crime solver might only be considered visionary if it demonstrates how the psychic's gift produces a higher state of consciousness.
Largely as a response to seller and buyer demand, an ad hoc fiction genre system emerged during the 20th century, although some of its labels remain loosely defined or duplicative.
He further explains the fiction type he designated psychological, and thus not-visionary, as taking "its materials from the vast realm of conscious human experience—from the vivid foreground of life.
And, many works of speculative fiction/fantasy (paranormal, supernatural, utopian, dystopian, apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, science fiction, magical realism, alternative history) have substance beyond the sensational and purpose beyond entertainment, some enough to be classified as VF.
If the focus is active with the spiritual power generated and motivated from within the individual and flowing outward to positively affect the environment, it is visionary fiction.
Still there is a distinction, which author Talia Newland makes: "Sometimes the terms are used synonymously but my understanding is that visionary fiction is more obviously ‘spiritual’ in nature, and that an individual's movement towards self-actualization is a primary theme.
Prior to the 20-teens, visionary fiction as a genre experienced difficulty gaining a reputation as marketable with traditional publishers and thus dedicated shelf space in libraries and bookstores.
Speaking of visionary fiction, which necessarily deals with uncomfortable material and challenges the reader to change his level of consciousness, Carl Jung noted, "The reading public for the most part repudiates this kind of writing—unless indeed it is coarsely sensational—and even the literary critic seems embarrassed by it.
A few such works, like James Redfield's Celestine Prophecy, did rocket up the best-seller lists, which may have misled authors to assume that a sublime message trumps amateur writing.
"[34] Before 2000 a number of unsuccessful attempts were made to market VF as a distinct genre, most notably at Hampton Roads Publishing of which editor Bob Friedman said, "We tried mightily to get the retailing powers to start a visionary fiction shelf.
[38] While online vendor, Amazon, claims to adhere to BISAC strictly, its print offerings are usually pre-coded by the publishers with results similar to the above.
Computer-based systems, now used in brick-and-mortar stores and on-line, support multi-category classification and further refinement in grouping, such as key words, thus making the listing of a single title under several genres and subgenres possible.
The following existing comprehensive works on the subject are relatively unknown, even to VF authors, although some have recently been highlighted on websites like that of the Visionary Fiction Alliance.
Using Jungian theory, including his view of visionary fiction, it examines the connections between the genres and finds common ground among them in plots that often reflect the recurring cycle of life and the elements of psychological rather than literal realism.
Works such as Malory's Le Morte D’Arthur, the Witch World series by Andre Norton, and More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon are examined in depth.
Starting with the stark premise that visionary writers seek to explode the normal experience of the "real", through devices like prophetic visions, fantastic tales, insane rantings, surrealistic dreams, and drug- or sex-induced dislocations in their work, Ahearn explores the work of a wide variety of authors who have contributed to the genre from the late eighteenth century to the present day.
Draws on the works of Don DeLillo, Jack Kerouac, Saul Bellow, Flannery O’Connor, Alice Walker, and William Faulkner.
Weighing in with posts or interviews are prominent authors Hal Zinna Bennett,[47] Monty Joynes,[48] Dean Koontz,[49] and Peggy Payne.
[50] Studies into the visionary writing component in the Bible,[51] Jewish and Christian literature,[52] medieval epics (Keyes), romantic prose/poetry (Ahearn) as well as modern authorship appear on the web.