Imagining the Imagination

 

The Neverending Story (Firebird)

by Michael Ende

 

This is perhaps the greatest – certainly one of the most well-known – works of German juvenile literature in the last century. And it is so much more than simply a fantasy adventure, although it certainly doesn’t lack in entertainment value. 

The book is actually imaginative literature that makes the imagination itself its main subject. It is about the proper handling of one’s imagination and how to SAVE the imagination as an essential part of being human. The English reader might not immediately notice this, but the German reader will. In the German original, Fantastica/Fantasia is called “Phantasien,” which is derived from the German word for “imagination.” Thus, Fantastica could be called “The Realm of One’s Imagination.” 

For a full appreciation of the book, it is important to recognize this. When Bastian, the main character, steals The Neverending Story from an antique book store and starts reading it, he doesn’t enter (within the fictitious world of the story) a real place such as Narnia or Hogwarts. Rather, he enters his own imagination and needs to learn to handle his imagination well. 

Being an outsider in school, Bastian is tempted to use his imagination in a bad way, namely for egoistical daydreams in which he imagines himself doing whatever he likes and taking revenge on others. Slowly, he learns that this is not the proper way of handling his imagination – that self-absorbed daydreaming is harmful. 

So he learns to save his imagination from the threat of “Nothing,” which is eating up Fantastica. 

The intended parallel isn’t hard to find. Michael Ende was a man deeply concerned about the loss of people’s imagination in modern culture (about the “nothingness” eating it up), and both his novel “Momo” and “The Neverending Story” deal with this. 

Whether you are young or old, whether you intend this book for yourself or your children, it is ideal for growing one’s imagination as well as reflecting on its precious realm.