They Broke Upon This Fortress Like Waves Upon Rock

Jun 13, 2025

Delve into Ursula K. Le Guin's compelling defense of fantasy against modern mediocrity. Explore the tension between authentic imagination and corporate imitations like 'Rings of Power' and the decline of classics. Uncover the psychological depths of Hans Christian Andersen’s 'The Shadow' through a Jungian lens, revealing the journey of self-confrontation. Discover Mikhail Bulgakov's critique of creativity under bureaucratic oppression and examine the ethics of fantasy in children's literature, emphasizing the need for rich, moral storytelling.

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INSIGHT

Fantasy's Changing Defense

Fantasy's defense shifted from a binary of good vs. bad to ersatz vs. genuine in modern culture.
Series like Rings of Power represent ersatz fantasy that tries to neuter authentic imagination.

INSIGHT

Bulgakov's Cultural Critique

The Soviet-style creative orthodoxy mocks authentic imagination, as portrayed in Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.
True creativity erupts despite bureaucratic constraints, paralleling today's cultural oligarchy issues.

INSIGHT

Andersen's Shadow Symbolism

Andersen's "The Shadow" shows the human divided between idealistic self and dark shadow that holds repressed desires.
Denying the shadow cuts creativity and the soul off from true artistic and poetic inspiration.

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I've been revisiting Ursula K. Le Guin's brilliant essay "The Child and the Shadow". Le Guin was defending fantasy against the sterile modernism of her era—but what happens when that defence needs to evolve? We're no longer fighting a battle between "good" and "bad" fantasy. Instead, we're caught in something potentially more insidious: the tension between authentic imagination and the ersatz.

From the disaster of Rings of Power to the destruction of Star Wars, from AI-generated Jung content flooding YouTube to the Soviet-style creative orthodoxy dominating our cultural institutions—we're witnessing the systematic neutering of the imaginal. But here's the thing: they can't actually touch the real. They break upon authentic creativity like waves upon rock.

Through Le Guin's profound analysis of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Shadow" and Jung's psychology, I explore why confronting our shadow isn't just personal development—it's the key to understanding why authentic fantasy endures while corporate imitations crumble. Plus, I reveal how Bulgakov got there first in The Master and Margarita, showing us exactly what happens when the vital imaginal meets bureaucratic control.

This isn't just about books or movies. It's about the difference between surface-level engagement and the depths where real creativity lives.

Chapter Timestamps:

0:00 - Opening: The Shift from Good vs. Bad to Ersatz vs. Genuine 3:45 - Le Guin's Defence of Fantasy in the Modern Era 8:20 - The Rings of Power Problem: When Creators Think They're Fans 12:15 - AI Jung Slop and the Corruption of the Imaginal 16:30 - Bulgakov's Prophecy: The Master and Margarita's Cultural Critique 22:10 - Reading "The Child and the Shadow": Andersen's Dark Fairy Tale 28:45 - Jung's Psychology: Ego, Shadow, and the Collective Unconscious 35:20 - The Ethics of Fairy Tales: Why Gretel Can Push the Witch 42:15 - Tolkien's True Complexity: Frodo, Sam, and Gollum as Psychic Journey 48:30 - Why Fantasy is the Language of Moral Truth 52:40 - The Problem with "Realistic" Children's Literature 57:25 - Luke in the Cave: Star Wars as Genuine Imaginal Work 60:10 - Closing Thoughts and Shadow Project Tease