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Farah Mendlesohn,Edward James | 296 pages | 01 Oct 2012 | Libri Publishing | 9781907471667 | English | Faringdon, United Kingdom A Short - , Edward James - Google книги

Though the fantasy in its modern sense is less than two centuries old, its antecedents have a long and distinguished history. Elements of the and the were an element of literature from its beginning. The hallmarks that distinguish the modern genre from tales that merely contain fantastic elements are the logic of the fantasy workings, the acknowledged fictitious nature of the work, and the authorship of the elements, rather than their source in . Works in which the marvels were not necessarily believed, or only half-believed, such as the European romances of chivalry and the tales of the Arabian Nightsslowly evolved into works that showed these traits. Such authors as George MacDonald created explicitly fantastic works. The publication of by J. Tolkien created an enormous influence on the writing of the field, establishing the form of fantasy and also did much to establish the genre of fantasy as commercially distinct and viable. Even the most fantastic , legends and tales differ from modern fantasy genre in three respects:. Illustration to Orlando furiosofeaturing the , a never actually found in folklore. Modern genre fantasy postulates a different reality, either a separated from ours, or a hidden fantasy side of our own world. In addition, the rules, geography, history, etc. Traditional fantastic tales take place in our world, often in the past or in far off, unknown places. It seldom describes the place or the time with any precision, often saying simply that it happened "long ago and far away. The second difference is that the supernatural in fantasy is by design fictitious. In traditional tales the degree to which the author considered the supernatural to be real can span the spectrum from legends taken as reality to myths understood as describing in understandable terms A Short History of Fantasy complicated reality, to late, intentionally fictitious literary works. Finally, the fantastic worlds of modern fantasy are created by an author or group of authors, often using traditional elements, but usually in a novel arrangement and with an individual interpretation. Transitions between the traditional and modern modes of fantastic literature are evident in A Short History of Fantasy Gothic novels, the ghost stories in vogue in the 19th century, and Romantic novels, all of which used extensively traditional fantastic motifs, but subjected them to authors' concepts. By one standard, no work created before the fantasy genre was defined can be considered to belong A Short History of Fantasy it, no matter how A Short History of Fantasy fantastic elements it includes. By another, the genre includes the whole range of fantastic literature, both the modern genre and its A Short History of Fantasy antecedents, as many elements which were treated as true or at least not obviously untrue by earlier authors are wholly fictitious and fantastic for modern readers. But even by the more limited definition a full examination of the history of the fantastic in literature is necessary to show the origins of the modern genre. Traditional works A Short History of Fantasy significant elements which modern fantasy authors have drawn upon extensively for inspiration in their own works. The history of French literature is covered in greater detail under Fantastique. With increases in learning in the middle of the medieval European era, there appeared beside earlier myths and legends, A Short History of Fantasy literary . Among the first to appear was the genre of romance. This genre embraced fantasy, and not A Short History of Fantasy simply followed traditional myths and , but, in its final form, boldly created new marvels from the whole cloth. Romance at first dealt with traditional themes, A Short History of Fantasy all three thematic cycles of tales, assembled in imagination at a late date as the actually centered on the life and deeds of Alexander the Greatthe Charlemagne and Roland, his principal paladin and the the lives and deeds of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, within which was incorporated the for the Holy Grail. The romances themselves were not entirely believed, but such tales as Valentine and OrsonGuillaume A Short History of Fantasy Palermeand Queste del Saint Graal were only the beginning of the fantasy genre, not fully removed from belief. During Renaissanceromance continued to be popular. The trend was to more fantastic fiction. Ariosto's tale, with its endlessly wandering characters, many marvels, and adventures, was a source text for many of adventure. The poem is deeply allegorical and allusive. Leaving aside, however, the action is that of a typical knightly romance, involving knightly duels, and combats against and sorcerers. That is probably the first work in which most of the characters are not men, but although the difference seems to be rather little. There are mentioned also the wars between and elves A Short History of Fantasy, which were destined to have a great future in fantastic fiction. The tale of deeply satirized the conventions of the romance, and helped bring about the end of this time of romance, although A Short History of Fantasy by other historical trends in fiction. Literary fairy talessuch as were written by Charles Perraultand Madame d'Aulnoybecame very popular, early in this era. Many of Perrault's tales became staples, and influenced latter fantasy as such. This era, however, was notably hostile to fantasy. Writers of the new types of fiction such as Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding were realistic in style, and many early realistic works were critical of fantasical elements in fiction. In one respect, this was an A Short History of Fantasy stage in the development of fantasy as a genre. The development of a realistic genre ensured that fantasy could be defined as a distinct type, in contrast. 's Manfred. In reaction to Enlightenment 's cult of Reason, highly prized the supernatural, tradition and imagination, together with the age in which they were supposed to rule - Middle Ages. These traits readily borrowed traditional elements of the fantastic. The Romantics invoked the medieval romance as justification for the works they wanted to produce, in distinction from the realistic pressure of the Enlightenment; these were not always fantastic, sometimes being merely unlikely to happen, but the justification was used even from fantasy. One of the first literary results of this fascinations was Gothic novela literary genre that began in Britain with A Short History of Fantasy Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. It is the predecessor to both modern fantasy and modern and, above all, has led to the common definition of "gothic" as being connected to the dark and horrific. The fanastic, dream-like atmosphere pervaded the genre at this point. Some stories appeared to contain such elements and then explained them away. The genre straddled the border between fantasy and non-fantasy, but many elements from it, particularly the houses of particular import, being ancient, owned by nobles, and often endowed with legends, were incorporated in modern fantasy. Of particular importance to the development of the genre was that the Gothic writers used novelistic techniques, such as Defoe A Short History of Fantasy using, rather than the literary style of the romance, and also began to use the landscape for purposes of expressing the characters' moods. On the other hand, the Gothic still held back the pure fantasy. In The Castle of OtrantoA Short History of Fantasy presented the work as a translation; the fictitious original author is therefore responsible for its fantasical elements, which Walpole distances himself from. The modern fantasy genre first took root during the 18th century with the increased popularity of fictional travelers' tales, influencing and being influenced by other early forms of along the way, A Short History of Fantasy unfurling in the 19th century from a literary tapestry of fantastic stories and gaining recognition as a distinct genre mainly due to the nigh-ubiquitous recession of fantastic elements from "mainstream" fiction in the late s. In the early Victorian era, stories continued to be told using fantastic elements, less believed in. wrote A Christmas Carolusing novelistic characterization to make his plausible; [15] Scrooge at first doubts the reality of the ghosts, suspecting them his own imagination, an explanation that is never conclusively refuted. The other major fantasy author of this era was A Short History of Fantasy, a socialist, an admirer of Middle Ages, a reviver of British handcrafts and a poet, who wrote several fantastic romances and novels in the latter part of the century, of which the most famous was The Well at the World's End. He was deeply inspired by the medieval romances and ; his style was deliberately archaic, based on medieval romances. These fantasy worlds were part of a general trend. This era began a general trend toward more self-consistent and substantive fantasy worlds. In Phantastesfor instance, George MacDonald has a mentor-figure explain to the that the moral laws are the same in the world he is about to enter as in the world he came from; this lends weight and importance to his actions in this world, however fantastical it is. Authors such as and in The Picture of Dorian Grey A Short History of Fantasy developed fantasy, in the telling of horror tales, [21] a separate branch of fantasy that was to have great influence on H. Lovecraft and other writers of . Despite MacDonald's future influence, and Morris' popularity at the time, it was not until the turn of the century that fantasy fiction began to reach a large audience, A Short History of Fantasy authors such as A Short History of Fantasy, following Morris's example, wrote fantasy novels, but also in the short story form. Rider Haggard developed the conventions of the sub-genre, which A Short History of Fantasy included fantasy works as in Haggard's own She. Several classic children's fantasies such as and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz were also published around this time. Indeed, in the earlier part of the 20th century, C. Lewis noted that fantasy was more accepted in juvenile literature, and therefore a writer interested in fantasy often wrote in it to find an audience. Eddisonanother influential writer, wrote near the end of this era. He drew inspiration from sagas, as Morris did, but his prose style was modeled more on Tudor and Elizabethan English, and his stories were filled with vigorous characters in glorious adventures. These characters have been admired for his work in making his villains, particularly, more vivid characters than Tolkien's. At this A Short History of Fantasy, the terminology for the genre was not settled. Tolkien's The Hobbitthe term "fairy tale" was still being used. In the first all-fantasy fiction magazine, was created. Many other similar magazines eventually followed, most noticeably The Magazine of Fantasy and . The format was at the height of its popularity at this time and was instrumental in bringing fantasy fiction to a wide audience in both the U. Such magazines also played a large role in A Short History of Fantasy rise of science fiction and it was at this time the two began to be associated with each other. Several of the genre's most prominent authors began their careers in these magazines including Clark Ashton SmithFritz LeiberRay Bradbury and most noticeably H. Lovecraft was deeply influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and to a somewhat lesser extent, by Lord Dunsany; with his Cthulhu Mythos stories, he became one of the most influential writers of fantasy and horror in the twentieth century. Howard also began at this time. Bysword and sorcery had begun to find a wide audience, with the success of Howard's the Barbarianand 's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. Howard's works, especially Conan, were to have a noteworthy, even defining, influence on the subgenre. Moore was among Howard's first imitators, with "The Black God's Kiss", in which she introduced and the heroine to sword and sorcery. Inwith the publication of The Sword in the StoneT. White introduced one of the most notable works of comic fantasy. Sprague de Camp. However, it was the advent of high A Short History of Fantasy and, most importantly, the popularity of J. Tolkien 's and The Lord of the Rings which finally allowed fantasy to truly enter into the mainstream. Tolkien had published The Hobbit in and The Lord of the Rings in the s; while the first was a , the second was an epic fantasy of great scope and seriousness. It is difficult to overstate the impact that The Lord of the Rings had on the fantasy genre; in some respects, it swamped all the works of fantasy that had been written before it, and it unquestionably created "fantasy" as a marketing category. While fantasists had created fantasy worlds from the A Short History of Fantasy of William Morris, Tolkien's influence enormously boosted them, with a decline of such devices as dream frames to explain away the fantastical nature of the setting. This stemmed not only from his example, but from his literary criticism; his " On Fairy Stories ", in which he termed such settings "secondary worlds" was a formative work of fantasy criticism. The impact that his books, combined with the success of several other series such as C. Lewis 's Chronicles of and Ursula K. Le Guin 's Earthseahelped cement the genre's popularity and gave birth to the A Short History of Fantasy wave of . With the immense success of Tolkien's works many publishers began to search for a new series which could have similar mass-market appeal. For the first time publishing fantasy was A Short History of Fantasy at as a profitable business venture and fantasy novels began to replace the fiction magazines as the heart of the genre. edited the Ballantine Adult Fantasy serieswhen Ballantine pursued the fantasy market; it was so titled to avert its being filed as children's literature. The line contained mostly reprints, but also introduced some new fantasy works. A Short History of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn

Goodreads helps you keep track of books A Short History of Fantasy want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a A Short History of Fantasy Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Edward James. A history of the fantasy form, this work traces the genre from the earliest years with The Epic of Gilgamesh and The through to the origins of modern fantasy in the 20th century with such acclaimed writers as A Short History of Fantasy J. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 7. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about A Short History of Fantasyplease sign up. Be the first to ask a question about A Short History of Fantasy. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of A Short History of Fantasy. Jan 13, Jason Mills rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Fantasy fans, fantasy scholars, fantasy writers. Shelves: non-fictionhistoryfantasy. At around pages, this history certainly is short. There is a wide-ranging survey up to the s, and A Short History of Fantasy sections devoted to Tolkein, C S Lewis, A Short History of Fantasy K Rowling, Pullman and Pratchett, because of their prominence and influence. After that the book basically covers one decade per chapter, telling of the influential rising stars, trends and fresh developments in that period mostly books, but other media too. The observations are A Short History of Fantasy and intelligent, but readily accessible, not weig At around pages, this history certainly is short. The observations are interesting and intelligent, but readily accessible, not weighed down by academia, and the coverage is extensive. The authors tease out the 'speciation' of fantasy, first in its divergence from horror and SF, and then on into different modes: immersive, intrusive and indigenous fantasy; portal worlds; quest series; pocket universes; liminal fantasy; the , etc. Much of the material A Short History of Fantasy was new to me, particularly from the explosion of the last two decades. Fans of fantasy would be well advised to avoid reading this whilst sitting at a computer with access to amazon… Indeed, so much has been published in recent years that the last couple of chapters are in danger of descending into frantic lists. I was left mildly distressed that I could never possibly catch up with A Short History of Fantasy the good stuff. And of course there were a few works not covered that I felt were important Ricardo Pinto springs to mind, and James Hilton's neglected Lost Horizon. Nevertheless, this is a lively history full of infectious enthusiasm and sensible appreciation, with an extensive appendix of major works and two indexes. A great read. Jun 03, Harun Musho'd rated it really A Short History of Fantasy it. Like Roberts's book this was broadly structured chronologically, with two extra chapters to discuss major authors of the 50s Tolkien and Lewis and 90s Rowling, Pullman and Pratchett. The second chapter pre is laid out chronologically, but the other chronological A Short History of Fantasy are atrucrued by sub-genre. There are a number of flaws. First, the authors are generally a little sloppy about sticking to their structure. For example: in chapter 3 covering there are two separate sections on adult book length fantasies for no particularl reason, and it talks about there being two major British author, apart from Tolkien and Lewis in this period and Hope Mirless but then A Short History of Fantasy more time talking about a third author T H White ; Sean Stewart's 'Galveston' is reviewed differently in two different chapters in seeming ignorance of A Short History of Fantasy other review it is, or is not, a magic A Short History of Fantasy novel while Stephanie's Meyer's original 'Twilight' novel is reviewed twice in the same chapter. Secondly, the criticism can also be inconsistent - we are told that Robert E Howard's reputation was damaged by 's 80s films but later Arnie's two Conan films are praised. Thirdly, the authors sometimes stray beyond fantasy. That can be hard to avoid at the margins of any genre, of course, but why, in a section on silent fantasy films, mention Fritz Lang's Metropolis and M, the first is clearly SF and the second is a non-fantasy and also a , but not his two silent fantasy films - Destiny and Die Nibelungen? Finally,the last chapter s appears to have been hastily revised for the second edition. A lot of works are thrown in, no doubt in part because the genre has boomed fuing this time. However, for all the numerous quibbles I have and there are far more than I have set out hereit has compensating strengths. The chronological structure generally helps to identify trends, so the reader gets to understand why fat quest fantasy books so dominated the fantasy book market; how the internet helped create the phenomenon; the slow death and rebirth of the sword-and-sorcery sub- genre; how the adult fantasy genre rode in on the back of the success of children's fantasy; and the rise of the New Weird sub-genre. A Short History of Fantasy was a useful and enyoyable read, and enabled me to update my genre reading list as a result. Jul 31, Sherwood Smith added it Shelves: discussing-fiction. This book reaches back into the history of English literature for the threads of fantasy. The authors do not make judgments of the material--that is not their purpose. What they have set out to do is give as complete an overview as possible of the development of fantasy in English. It's quite fascinating to dip into. I love learning about the history of genres and tropes, so this book was a must-read for me. The authors mix their passion for everything speculative with a more scientific structure, including recommendations for further reading and sources, as well as an extensive list of influential fantasy books in the A Short History of Fantasy. Also, the I love learning about the history of genres and tropes, so this book was a must-read for me. Also, the German edition I read just looks gorgeous. While all of that sounds good, I had some issues with this book. First of all, a lot of the early chapters are more about Science Fiction than about Fantasy. Sure, it was the more successful genre at that time and a lot of authors also fall within both categories, but it still felt out of place. I love SF as much as Fantasy, but if you cant fill the chapters with your actual topics, you shouldn't dedicate a whole chapter to it. Also, sometimes books are discussed in detail that the authors admit that they "aren't really fantasy". In general, I didn't really get why some works were focused on more than others. There are some novels I never heard of that are praised as classics which is cool, I want to learn about A Short History of Fantasy thingsbut then actual classics, books that have stood the test of time and are still discussed and read today, are name dropped only, never to be really spoken of. Some of them have one comment about them, sometimes only a negative one, but it never felt clear why this isn't important to talk of but another book gets an entire page dedicated to it. It felt the authors were just picking what they personally liked best. Also, a lot of books are not discussed as much as listed A Short History of Fantasy recapped. I would have loved to know what makes the books so great or influential, which was described sometimes, but more often than not everything I learned about a books was that the author wrote a lot and a very vague or very extensive plot description. Like, one sentence or one page, there was little in-between. Also, no holding back on spoilers, even a one sentence recap could spoil the last book in a series. It was entertaining, easy to read and interesting as a whole, but it could have explored the subgenres and trends more, made it more clear why these old books are still worth reading A Short History of Fantasy present a better sense on what to focus on. I enjoyed it more than the review makes it seem, but it doesn't entirely satisfy my need to learn about the fantasy genre. Jan 28, David rated it it was amazing Shelves: books-about-books. Probably the best book I've read on Fantasy fiction. Though, the author s seem to gush on a bit much over female authors and cut short male authors towards the middle A Short History of Fantasy end of the book. Misses the mark on the most recent era covered which spotlights wrongly The New Weird as the wave of the future. Apr 02, Nafiza rated it liked it Shelves: books-i-ownread Drier than I expected it to be though it does go through a large number of fantasy titles all of it in A Short History of Fantasy so with limited diversity that figure in the history of fantasy. I wonder at the absence of any mention of Alison Croggon whose Pellinor books have a worldwide following and whose contribution to the genre is considerable. Maybe I just missed it. Feb 28, Nicholas Whyte rated it really liked it. Tolkien and C. Lewis and b , J. Rowling and Terry Pratchett, the whole text weighing in at less than pages plus index and lists. It doesn't interrogate the nature of fantasy literature in depth one of the authors has done that elsewhere but does define the genre clearly and convincingly, and also looks at when and why particular sub-genres cute animal A Short History of Fantasy, , Big Commercial Fantasy have become popular at different times. The authors integrate children's literature and also genre films and television into the narrative; this is not just about fantasy for grownups. Mostly I found myself nodding in agreement or realisation with just the occasional raised eyebrow - surely wrote more than four books in the s p. Oct 24, Josiah rated it really liked it Shelves: history. A Brief History of the Fantasy Genre | Jane Friedman

George R. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab. While fairy tales are ancient, dating back to A Short History of Fantasy Bronze age, fantasy turns out to be a revival movement, rising from the grave of the recent dead. Mention of the word fantasy is minimal through through the twentieth centurywith some peaks here and there depending on your source. Aroundfantasy took A Short History of Fantasy, soaring up and up, well into the twenty-first century. Why the change? What summoned the word fantasy back to life in ? The first people I called on for an answer was my house painter, Rob Cordones, who was then painting my kitchen lemon. Poe was dead byShelly byand Stoker made it into the twentieth century, dying in Still, fantasy had a stake through the chest for another 35 years. Tolkien hit the sweet spot all right. He and C. Lewis were members of a writers group called , which met for nearly A Short History of Fantasy years. The Lord of the Rings took 12 years to complete, not reaching print until The Hobbit published in might have served as kindling. Ian J. And then there was the publication and popularity of The Lionthe Witch and the Wardrobe and Lord of the Rings Simpson is spot on. Airing from toits story arc connected a dust-bowl depression narrative to an epic battle between good and evil. Samson is a little person who manages the carnival, and he has his own theory of fantasy. In each generation was born a creature of light and a creature of darkness, and great armies would clash by night in an ancient war between good and evil. So it was until the day when a false sun exploded over Trinity and man forever traded away wonder for reason. This A Short History of Fantasy sun was visible for miles. But Samson, I fear, missed a beat. Humans did not trade away wonder for reason in that awesome moment. Reason is a good thing A Short History of Fantasy in short supply. The opposite is true. At a. Before that, he served as a staff correspondent for National Journal, with regular venues at the White House and Congress. The fourth book will appear in June, Decline to Die. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Share this. Posted in Guest PostPublishing Industry. Jeff Shear View posts by Jeff Shear. Notify of. Inline Feedbacks. Load more comments.