The Quest

I've finished Hard Times (a bit slow in the middle, but picking up nicely towards the end) and before diving into the next classic, I decided to read a novel I'd gotten for my birthday from a friend who likes to give me novels by people I've never heard of before, which then turn out to be things I absolutely love (The Eyre Affair being a great example). In this case, the novel in question was The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. It's about a guy who suddenly decides to leave his home behind and go on a 'pilgrimage' across England, on foot.
Sounds familiar? Maybe because it reminds you of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, last year's great hit. Somehow, the idea of men suddenly dropping out of their lives to go on a great quest appeals to readers.
Now the theme of 'the quest' is nothing new, of course. Classical and medieval literature is littered with examples, and also many modern day novels include a quest of some sort, be it a physical journey (The Hobbit, to name the most obvious example), a journey of social acceptance (most post-9/11 novels), or a coming-of-age story (most young adult fiction, ranging from The Hunger Games to the diaries of wimpy kids). In short, there has to be some sort of development, some sort of journey (The Hero's Journey is one of the commonest narrative elements) for a novel or story to function.
All this is very well, but the surprising thing in the novels mentioned above, is that this journey is taking place in our world, in our time, by people who could be us. No super-natural events, alternate universes or even parallel worlds (like in Harry Potter), but actual named and described places. Almost as if the event could be taking place right now. And almost as if we, the readers, could be part of that event. That is what got me thinking.

Literature (art in general) functions as an escape from our 'real' lives, I think everybody knows that by now. But somehow, that escape resembles those real lives ever closer. Instead of a hobbit going on an adventure, it's Harold Fry, a simple guy who could just as well be living next door. This can mean two things: either our own imagination is coming up short and we need help by authors guiding us through the 'real' world with 'real' people (I don't think so), or we want to be shown that an adventure is possible in our day and age and life, if only we had the chance. We don't have that chance, because contrary to Allan Karlsson and Harold Fry, we do have jobs and kids and mortgages, and basically no room or time or motivation, but if we were hundred-year-olds or retired and bored, we could just walk out the door in search of adventure. In that sense, it's a consolation: even those guys, who have all but 'left' the world, are still out there doing these great things and travelling these great distances.
Which is kind of sad, really, when you think about it, because it makes me imagine all these people desperate for an adventure or journey or something out of the ordinary, but thinking that they're having to wait until their life is almost over for it to happen. So instead of escaping into literature, I'd advise them to put down the books and go out and have an adventure themselves!
But of course that isn't the main reason for reading these kinds of novels, so if you think your life is quite adventurous enough (as in fact Alan and Harold do, because they never really search out the adventure, it somehow happens to them), do read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, because it really is a fun book, even if you're happy to just let it happen to someone else.