Fantasy literature
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fantasy literature is fantasy in written form. Historically speaking, the majority of fantasy works have been literature. Since the 1950s however, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music, painting, and other media.
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[edit] History
Stories involving magic, paranormal magic and terrible monsters have existed in spoken forms before the advent of printed literature. Homer's Odyssey satisfies the definition of the fantasy genre with its magic, gods, heroes, adventures and monsters. Fantasy literature, as a distinct type, emerged in Victorian times, with the works of writers such as William Morris, Lord Dunsany, and George MacDonald.
J. R. R. Tolkien played a large role in the popularization of the fantasy genre with his massively-successful publications – The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was largely influenced by an ancient body of Anglo-Saxon myths — particularly Beowulf — as well as modern works such as The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison, and it was after his work that the genre began to receive the moniker, "fantasy" (often applied retro-actively to the works of Eddison, Carroll, Howard, et al.). J. R. R. Tolkien's close friend C. S. Lewis, author of the The Chronicles of Narnia, also an English professor interested in similar themes, was also associated with popularizing the fantasy genre.
[edit] Modern Day
Authors such as J.K.Rowling and Terry Pratchett are maintaining the genre's popularity. Rowling's sales record from fantasy books made her the world's first author billionaire[1]. There are a growing number of authors writing fantasy books for children or teenagers, J K Rowling being an example.
[edit] Style
Fantasy has been distinguished from other forms of literature by its style.
Ursula K. LeGuin, in her essay, "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", presented the idea that the language used in high fantasy is the most crucial element, because it creates a sense of place. She analyzed the misuse of a formal, "olden-day" style, saying that it was a dangerous trap for fantasy writers because it was ridiculous when done wrong. She warns writers away from trying to base their style on that of masters such as Lord Dunsany and E. R. Eddison, [2] Emphasizing that language which is too bland or simplistic creates the impression that the fantasy setting was simply a modern world in disguise, she presents examples of clear, effective fantasy writing in brief excerpts from J.R.R. Tolkien and Evangeline Walton. [3]
Michael Moorcock observed that many writers use archaic language for its sonority and to lend color to a lifeless story.[4] Brian Peters writes that in various forms of fairytale fantasy, even the villain's language might be inappropriate if vulgar.[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/08/top-earning-authors-tech-media_cz_lg_books06_1208authors.html
- ^ Ursula K. LeGuin, "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", p 74-5 The Language of the Night ISBN 0-425-05205-2
- ^ Ursula K. LeGuin, "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", p 78-80 The Language of the Night ISBN 0-425-05205-2
- ^ Michael Moorcock, Wizardry & Wild Romance: A Study of Epic Fantasy p 35 ISBN 1-932265-07-4
- ^ Alec Austin, "Quality in Epic Fantasy". The generic features of historical fantasy literature, as a mode of inverting the real (including nineteenth-century ghost stories, children's stories, city comedies, classical dreams, stories of highway women, and Edens) are discussed in Writing and Fantasy, ed. Ceri Sullivan and Barbara White (London: Longman, 1999)
