Escapist fiction

Escapist fiction, also known as escape fiction, escapist literature, or simply escapism, is fiction that provides escapism by immersing readers in a "new world" created by the author. The genre aims to compensate for a real world the reader perceives as arbitrary and unpredictable compared to the clear rules of the constructed "new world". Typically, an author of escapist fiction offers structure, rationality and resolution to real world problems throughout their medium. The genre facilitates mentalisation; that is, escapist fiction encourages psychological engagement from the reader. Escapist fiction is often contrasted with realism, which confronts the reader with the harsh reality of war, disease, family dysfunction, crime, foreclosure, death, etc. It encompasses a number of different genres within it; any fiction that immerses the reader into a world different from their own is fundamentally escapist fiction. Escapist literature aims to give readers imaginative entertainment rather than to address contemporary issues and provoke serious and critical thoughts.