Fantasy

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This article is about the artistic genre. For other uses, see Fantasy (disambiguation).
"Fantasy fiction" redirects here. For the magazine, see Fantasy Fiction.

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The Violet Fairy Book
(1906)

Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fantasy world and usually inspired by mythology or folklore. The term "fantasy" can also be used to describe a "work of this genre",[1] usually literary.

Its roots are in oral traditions, which became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animations, and video games.

The expression fantastic literature is also often used to refer to this genre by the Anglophone literary critics.[2][3][4][5] An alternate term for the genre is phantasy,[6] although this is rarely used.

Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of

myths and legends
to many recent and popular works.

Traits

Skeleton Fantasy Show (骷髏幻戲圖) by Li Song (1190–1264)

Many works of fantasy use

witches and so on) and magical creatures are common in many of these worlds.[6]

An identifying trait of fantasy is the author's use of narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent.[9] This differs from realistic fiction in that realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, where fantasy does not. In writing fantasy the author uses worldbuilding to create characters, situations, and settings that may not be possible in reality.

Many fantasy authors use real-world folklore and mythology as inspiration;[10] and although another defining characteristic of the fantasy genre is the inclusion of supernatural elements, such as magic,[11] this does not have to be the case.

Fantasy has often been compared to science fiction and horror because they are the major categories of speculative fiction. Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements. A science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seemingly possible through logical scientific or technological extrapolation, where fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible.[9] Authors have to rely on the readers' suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment, in order to write effective fantasies. Despite both genres' heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable from one another. Horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists' weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists.[12]

History

Main article: History of fantasy

Early history

Main article: Early history of fantasy
The Violet Fairy Book
(1906)

While some elements of the

Enûma Eliš, in which the god Marduk slays the goddess Tiamat,[14] contains the theme of a cosmic battle between good and evil, which is characteristic of the modern fantasy genre.[14] Genres of romantic and fantasy literature existed in ancient Egypt.[15] The Tales of the Court of King Khufu, which is preserved in the Westcar Papyrus and was probably written in the middle of the second half of the eighteenth century BC, preserves a mixture of stories with elements of historical fiction, fantasy, and satire.[16][17] Egyptian funerary texts preserve mythological tales,[15] the most significant of which are the myths of Osiris and his son Horus.[15]

allegories to convey many of his teachings,[19] and early Christian writers interpreted both the Old and New Testaments as employing parables to relay spiritual truths.[19] This ability to find meaning in a story that is not literally true became the foundation that allowed the modern fantasy genre to develop.[19]

The most well known fiction from the

Vedic mythology and had many more fantastical stories and characters, particularly in the Indian epics. The Panchatantra (Fables of Bidpai), for example, used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate the central Indian principles of political science. Chinese traditions have been particularly influential in the vein of fantasy known as Chinoiserie, including such writers as Ernest Bramah and Barry Hughart.[20]

Beowulf is among the best known of the Old English tales in the English speaking world, and has had deep influence on the fantasy genre; several fantasy works have retold the tale, such as John Gardner's

dwarves, elves, dragons, and giants.[22] These elements have been directly imported into various fantasy works. The separate folklore of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland has sometimes been used indiscriminately for "Celtic" fantasy, sometimes with great effect; other writers have specified the use of a single source.[23] The Welsh tradition has been particularly influential, due to its connection to King Arthur and its collection in a single work, the epic Mabinogion.[23]

There are many works where the boundary between fantasy and other works is not clear; the question of whether the writers believed in the possibilities of the marvels in A Midsummer Night's Dream or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight makes it difficult to distinguish when fantasy, in its modern sense, first began.[24]

Modern fantasy

Illustration from 1920 edition of George MacDonald's novel The Princess and the Goblin

Although pre-dated by John Ruskin's The King of the Golden River (1841), the history of modern fantasy literature is usually said to begin with George MacDonald, the Scottish author of such novels as Phantastes (1858) and The Princess and the Goblin (1872); the former is widely considered to be the first fantasy novel ever written for adults. MacDonald was a major influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.[25] The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, an English poet who wrote several novels in the latter part of the century, including The Wood Beyond the World (1894) and The Well at the World's End (1896).

Despite MacDonald's future influence with

Abraham Merritt, established what was known as the "lost world" subgenre, which was the most popular form of fantasy in the early decades of the 20th century, although several classic children's fantasies, such as Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
, were also published around this time.

Juvenile fantasy was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, with the effect that writers who wished to write fantasy had to fit their work into forms aimed at children.[26] Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote fantasy in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, intended for children,[27] although his works for adults only verged on fantasy. For many years, this and successes such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) created the circular effect that all fantasy works, even the later The Lord of the Rings, were therefore classified as children's literature[citation needed
].

Political and social trends can affect a society's reception towards fantasy. In the early 20th century, the

shenmo genre of traditional Chinese literature. The spells and magical creatures of these novels were viewed as superstitious and backward, products of a feudal society hindering the modernization of China. Stories of the supernatural continued to be denounced once the Communists rose to power, and mainland China experienced a revival in fantasy only after the Cultural Revolution had ended.[28]

Fantasy became a genre of

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
; when it was founded in 1949, the pulp magazine format was at the height of its popularity, and the magazine was instrumental in bringing fantasy fiction to a wide audience in both the U.S. and Britain. Such magazines were also instrumental in the rise of science fiction, and it was at this time the two genres began to be associated with each other.

By 1950, "

Chronicles of Narnia and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea
books, helped cement the genre's popularity.

The popularity of the fantasy genre has continued to increase in the 21st century, as evidenced by the best-selling status of

A. Sapkowski's The Witcher
saga.

Media

Further information:
Fantasy art, Fantasy film, Fantasy television, and Role-playing game

Several fantasy film adaptations have achieved blockbuster status, most notably The Lord of the Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, and the Harry Potter films, two of the highest-grossing film series in cinematic history.

Fantasy role-playing games cross several different media. Dungeons & Dragons was the first tabletop role-playing game and remains the most successful and influential. According to a 1999 survey in the United States, 6% of 12- to 35-year-olds have played role-playing games. Of those who play regularly, two thirds play D&D.[31] Products branded Dungeons & Dragons made up over fifty percent of the RPG products sold in 2005.[32]

The science fantasy role-playing game series Final Fantasy has been an icon of the role-playing video game genre (as of 2012 it was still among the top ten best-selling video game franchises). The first collectible card game, Magic: The Gathering, has a fantasy theme and is similarly dominant in the industry.[33]

Classification

By theme (subgenres)

See also: List of genres § Fantasy

Fantasy encompasses numerous

subgenres
characterized by particular themes or settings, or by an overlap with other literary genres or forms of speculative fiction. They include the following:

By the function of the fantastic in the narrative

In her 2008 book Rhetorics of Fantasy,

taxonomy of fantasy, as "determined by the means by which the fantastic enters the narrated world",[36]
while noting that there are fantasies that fit none of the patterns:

Portal fantasy
In "portal-quest fantasy" or "portal fantasy", a fantasy world is entered, behind which the fantastic elements remain contained. A portal-quest fantasy typically tends to be a quest-type narrative, whose main challenge is navigating the fantastical world.[37] Notable examples include L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950),[38] and Stephen R. Donaldson's late-1970s series The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.[39] In Japan, the genre of portal fantasy is known as isekai (Japanese: 異世界, transl. "different world" or "otherworld"), which has developed its own set of conventions.
Immersive fantasy
In "immersive fantasy", the
fictional world is seen as complete, its fantastic elements are not questioned within the context of the story, and the reader perceives the world through the eyes and ears of viewpoint characters native to the setting. This narrative mode "consciously negates the sense of wonder" often associated with science fiction, according to Mendlesohn. She adds that "a sufficiently effective immersive fantasy may be indistinguishable from science fiction" as the fantastic "acquires a scientific cohesion all of its own". This has led to disputes about how to classify novels such as Mary Gentle's Ash (2000) and China Miéville's Perdido Street Station (2000).[40]
Intrusion fantasy
In "intrusion fantasy", the fantastic intrudes on reality (unlike portal fantasies), and the protagonists' engagement with that intrusion drives the story. Usually
French-speaking countries, it is considered as a genre distinct from fantasy, the fantastique
.
Liminal fantasy
In "liminal fantasy", the fantastic enters a world that appears to be our own. The marvelous is perceived as normal by the protagonists at the same time as it disconcerts and estranges the reader. This is a relatively rare mode. Such fantasies often adopt an ironic, blasé tone, as opposed to the straight-faced mimesis more common to fantasy.[43] Examples include Joan Aiken's stories about the Armitage family, who are amazed that unicorns appear on their lawn on a Tuesday, rather than on a Monday.[42]

Subculture

See also: Fantasy fandom
Avon Fantasy Reader
18

Publishers, editors, authors, artists, and scholars with interest in the fantasy genre get together yearly at the

World Fantasy Awards
are presented at the convention. The first WFC was held in 1975 and it has occurred every year since. The convention is held at a different city each year.

Additionally, many science fiction conventions, such as Florida's

Majutsushi Orphen (fantasy), Sailor Moon (urban fantasy), Berserk (dark fantasy), and Spirited Away (fantasy). Many science fiction/fantasy and anime conventions also strongly feature or cater to one or more of the several subcultures within the main subcultures, including the cosplay subculture (in which people make or wear costumes based on existing or self-created characters, sometimes also acting out skits or plays as well), the fan fiction subculture, and the fan video or AMV subculture, as well as the large internet subculture devoted to reading and writing prose fiction or doujinshi
in or related to those genres.

According to 2013 statistics by the fantasy publisher Tor Books, men outnumber women by 67% to 33% among writers of historical, epic or high fantasy. But among writers of urban fantasy or paranormal romance, 57% are women and 43% are men.[44]

Analysis

Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other language studies, cultural studies, comparative literature, history and medieval studies. Some works make political, historical and literary connections between medievalism and popular culture.[45]

French literature theorists as

Stanislaw Lem.[47]

Rosemary Jackson builds onto and challenges as well Todorov's definition of the fantastic in her 1981 nonfiction book Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion. Jackson rejects the notion of the fantastic genre as a simple vessel for wish fulfillment that transcends human reality in worlds presented as superior to our own, instead positing that the genre is inseparable from real life, particularly the social and cultural contexts within which each work of the fantastic is produced. She writes that the "unreal" elements of fantastic literature are created only in direct contrast to the boundaries set by its time period's "cultural order", acting to illuminate the unseen limitations of said boundaries by undoing and recompiling the very structures which define society into something "strange" and "apparently new". In subverting these societal norms, Jackson claims, the fantastic represents the unspoken desire for greater societal change. Jackson criticizes Todorov's theory as being too limited in scope, examining only the literary function of the fantastic, and expands his structuralist theory to fit a more cultural study of the genre—which, incidentally, she proposes is not a genre at all, but a mode that draws upon literary elements of both realistic and supernatural fiction to create the air of uncertainty in its narratives as described by Todorov. Jackson also introduces the idea of reading the fantastic through a psychoanalytical lens, referring primarily to Freud's theory of the unconscious, which she believes is integral to understanding the fantastic's connection to the human psyche.[48]

There are however additional ways to view the fantastic, and often these differing perspectives come from differing social climates. In their introduction to The Female Fantastic: Gender and the Supernatural in the 1890s and 1920s, Lizzie Harris McCormick, Jennifer Mitchell, and Rebecca Soares describe how the social climate in the 1890s and 1920s allowed for a new era of "fantastic" literature to grow. Women were finally exploring the new freedoms given to them and were quickly becoming equals in society. The fear of the new women in society, paired with their growing roles, allowed them to create a new style of "fuzzy" supernatural texts. The fantastic is on the dividing line between supernatural and not supernatural, Just as during this time period the women were not respecting the boundary of inequality that had always been set for them. At the time, women's roles in society were very uncertain, just as the rules of the fantastic are never straightforward. This climate allowed for a genre similar to the social structure to emerge. The fantastic is never purely supernatural, nor can the supernatural be ruled out. Just as women were not equal yet, but they were not completely oppressed. The Female Fantastic seeks to enforce this idea that nothing is certain in the fantastic nor the gender roles of the 1920s. Many women in this time period began to blur the lines between the genders, removing the binary out of gender and allowing for many interpretations. For the first time, women started to possess more masculine or queer qualities without it becoming as much of an issue. The fantastic during this time period reflects these new ideas by breaking parallel boundaries in the supernatural. The fantastic breaks this boundary by having the readers never truly know whether or not the story is supernatural.[49]

Related genres

See also

References

  1. ^ "Fantasy". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  2. ^ Rabkin, Eric (1975). The Fantastic in Literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  3. ^ Jackson, Rosemary (1981). Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion. London: Methuen.
  4. ^ Armitt, Lucy (1996). Theorising the Fantastic. London: Arnold.
  5. ^ Sandner, David (2004). Fantastic Literature: A Critical Reader. Westport: CT: Praeger.
  6. ^
    Encyclopedia Britannica
    . 28 November 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  7. OCLC 46769544
    .
  8. Encyclopedia Britannica
    . Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  9. ^
    ISBN 0-521-72873-8
  10. ISBN 0-312-19869-8
  11. ^ Diana Waggoner, The Hills of Faraway: A Guide to Fantasy, p 10, 0-689-10846-X
  12. ^ Charlie Jane Anders (24 December 2015). "The Key Difference Between Urban Fantasy and Horror". io9. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  13. ISBN 0-312-19869-8
    .
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-0195300208
    .
  15. ^
    ISBN 978-0486419527
    .
  16. ISBN 978-0141395951
    .
  17. ISBN 0-292-70204-3
    .
  18. ISBN 0-253-21157-3
    .
  19. ^
    ISBN 0-415-93890-2
    .
  20. ^
    ISBN 0-312-19869-8
  21. ISBN 0-312-19869-8
  22. ISBN 0-312-19869-8
  23. ^
    ISBN 0-312-19869-8
  24. ISBN 0-253-35665-2
  25. ISBN 978-0-19-931607-6
    .
  26. ISBN 0-15-667897-7
  27. ISBN 0-253-35665-2
  28. ISBN 978-0-520-93724-6
    .
  29. ISBN 0-87054-076-9
  30. ISBN 0-312-85175-8
  31. ^ Dancey, Ryan S. (7 February 2000). "Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs)". V1.0. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
  32. ^ Hite, Kenneth (30 March 2006). "State of the Industry 2005: Another Such Victory Will Destroy Us". GamingReport.com. Archived from the original on 20 April 2007. Retrieved 21 February 2007.
  33. ^ ICv2 (9 November 2011). "'Magic' Doubled Since 2008". Retrieved 10 November 2011. For the more than 12 million players around the world [...]{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) The "twelve million" figure given here is used by Hasbro; while through their subsidiary Wizards of the Coast they would be in the best position to know through tournament registrations and card sales, they also have an interest in presenting an optimistic estimate to the public.
  34. ^ Walton, Jo (29 August 2008). "My love-hate relationship with fantasy". Tor.com.
  35. Project MUSE book 21231
    .
  36. ^ Mendlesohn, "Introduction"
  37. ^ Mendlesohn, "Introduction: The Portal-Quest Fantasy"
  38. ^ Mendlesohn, "Chapter 1"
  39. ^ Senft, Michael (19 March 2020). "From Wonderland to Outlander, Your Guide to Portals to Other Worlds". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  40. ^ Mendlesohn, "Introduction: The Immersive Fantasy"
  41. ^ Mendlesohn, "Introduction: The Intrusion Fantasy"
  42. ^ a b Mendlesohn, "Chapter 3"
  43. ^ Mendlesohn, "Introduction: The Liminal Fantasy"
  44. ^ Crisp, Julie (10 July 2013). "SEXISM IN GENRE PUBLISHING: A PUBLISHER'S PERSPECTIVE". Tor Books. Archived from the original on 30 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  45. ^ Jane Tolmie, "Medievalism and the Fantasy Heroine", Journal of Gender Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2 (July 2006), pp. 145–158. ISSN 0958-9236
  46. ISBN 2020043742
    .
  47. ^ Lem, Stanislaw. "Todorov's Fantastic Theory of Literature".
  48. ^ Jackson, Rosemary, "Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion", Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1981, introduction (pp. 2–10)
  49. ISBN 978-0-8153-6402-3

Further reading

External links

Look up fantasy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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