Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature

Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature Brian Stableford The Scarecrow Press HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF LITERATURE AND THE ARTS Jon Woronoff, Series Editor Science Fiction Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2004. Horror Literature, by John Clute, 2005. American Radio Soap Operas, by Jim Cox, 2005. Japanese Traditional Theatre, by Samuel L. Leiter, 2005. Fantasy Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2005. Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature Brian Stableford Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts, No. 5 The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Oxford 2005 SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.scarecrowpress.com PO Box 317 Oxford OX2 9RU, UK Copyright © 2005 by Brian Stableford All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stableford, Brian M. Historical dictionary of fantasy literature / Brian Stableford. p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of literature and the arts ; no. 5) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8108-4944-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Fantasy fiction—Dictionaries. 2. Fantasy fiction—Bio-bibliography. I. Title. II. Series. PN3435.S82 2005 809'.915—dc22 2005000099 ∞™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America. Contents Editor’s Foreword (Jon Woronoff)vii Acknowledgments ix Acronyms and Abbreviations xi Chronology xiii Introduction xxxv THE DICTIONARY 1 Bibliography 449 About the Author 499 v Foreword This latest addition to the series of Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts is fairly large—and it has to be. For fantasy literature, while rather young in terms of scholarly classification, is as old as they come in reality. Myths and folktales, fairy tales and fables were around even before there was much of a written literature, and once put on paper this category just kept growing, and growing, and growing. Over the centuries it has reached in all possible directions, backward into the mythical past, forward into science fiction, and sideways into all sorts of parallel worlds. Works can portray hate and war or love and romance; they can solve all our pressing problems or leave most unsolved; they can be cautionary and didactic or humorous and, yes, fantastic. They can and do reflect the situation in all cultures and civilizations the world has ever seen, plus many it is never likely to see. Thus, even the most concise compilation must cover a lot of ground, given the vast numbers of books and shorter works, authors, illus- trators, and publishers, and of types, and categories. Fortunately, any presentation of fantasy literature is facilitated by the form adopted by this and other books in the series, since it can focus on many significant individual features in the dictionary section, which includes entries on literally hundreds of authors, dozens of types and categories, a broad array of standard themes and stock characters (many of which are periodically recycled), and the situation in different countries and cultures. The history of fantasy literature is traced in the chronology. The introduction, which might best be read after perusing some of the entries, explains the phenomenal, if almost inevitable, growth of the field and its increasingly complex categorization—this in scholarly terms but quite accessibly to ordinary readers. For those who want to know more, the bibliography provides a wide range of further reading resources. This Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature was written by Brian Stableford, who is presently lecturer in creative writing in the School of Cultural Studies, University College Winchester, where he teaches creative vii viii • FOREWORD writing and writing for children. He has also taught at other universities in the past, but the bulk of his time was devoted to writing, and more specifi- cally, writing of fantasy literature, with some predilection for science fiction. He has produced several dozen novels and other works of fiction while also translating and editing books in the same field. Dr. Stableford has also contributed to a number of reference works, before publishing the Histori- cal Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature, the first volume in this series. Such a combination of scholarly knowledge and hands-on writing experi- ence is hard to find, and the advantages will quickly become evident. Jon Woronoff Series Editor Acknowledgments I would like to thank the following people: Neil Barron, for commission- ing the work on his library guide to fantasy literature, which enabled me to lay the groundwork for my studies in the history of fantasy; Farah Mendle- sohn, whose correspondence relating to the taxonomic system she devel- oped was very helpful; John Clute, who generously provided information regarding the entry list of his Historical Dictionary of Horror Literature; and Faren Miller, who kindly read and commented on the typescript in ad- vance of its submission. ix Acronyms and Abbreviations abr abridged aka also known as BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BFA British Fantasy Award BFS British Fantasy Society Clute/Grant Encyclopedia The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, edited by John Clute and Peter Nicholls D&D Dungeons and Dragons ed edited by exp expanded version FA Fantastic Adventures HDHL Historical Dictionary of Horror Literature HDSFL Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature IAFA The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts ICFA The International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts F&SF The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction MUD multi-user dungeon pub publication rev revised RPG role-playing game sf science fiction SFWA originally the Science Fiction Writers of America, after 1992 the Science- Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America xi xii • ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS tr translated TV television US United States (of America) WFC World Fantasy Convention Chronology 8th century BC The Homeric epics are recorded, establishing the notion of literary genius and launching the tradition of fantasy literature. The works of Hesiod, including the Theogony, record the wider substance of classical mythology. 6th century BC The fables credited to Aesop are recorded. 5th century BC Aeschylus founds the tradition of tragic drama; his no- table works include a post–Trojan War trilogy featuring Orestes, whose tribulations are further described by Euripides. Sophocles contributes a trilogy about Oedipus. In 423 B.C., Aristophanes’ ground-breaking humorous fantasy The Clouds wins one of his several prizes for satirical comedy. 19 BC Virgil’s Aeneid imports Roman ideals into a sequel to the Home- ric epics. c10 AD Ovid compiles Metamorphoses, a theme anthology recycling mythical tales, including the story of Perseus and Andromeda. c65 The wandering protagonist of Petronius’s Satyricon encounters vari- ous leftovers of classical mythology. c150 Lucian satirizes traveler’s tales in the “True History” and writes “Lucius; or, The Ass,” a licentious tale. c165 Apuleius’s transfiguration of Lucian’s “Lucius,” The Golden Ass, elaborates the story considerably, interpolating the original allegory of “Cupid and Psyche.” c425 Longus writes the Arcadian fantasy Daphnis and Chloe. c725 Beowulf, written in a language ancestral to English, provides a key example of a local hero-myth. xiii xiv • CHRONOLOGY c850 The Voyage of St. Brendan offers an account of an Irish expedition to a series of marvelous islands, providing a popular exemplar of a traveler’s tale with quest elements. c1090 The Elder Edda provides a poetic version of the foundations of Nordic fantasy. c1130 The earliest surviving manuscript of The Song of Roland, trans- figures the defeat of Charlemagne’s army by Basque forces in 778, de- scribing a valiant but hopeless rearguard action by Roland and his com- rades. c1135 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s pioneering exercise in scholarly fantasy, History of the Kings of Britain, supplies the primal seed of Arthurian fantasy. Geffrei Gaimar’s similarly imaginary History of the English includes the story of Havelok the Dane. 1165 A letter is allegedly received by the Holy Roman Emperor, Freder- ick Barbarossa, signed by Prester John, the ruler of a Christian kingdom in India. The fake letter—an instrument of propaganda intended to drum up support for the Crusades—is widely copied, its account of Prester John’s kingdom provoking a good deal of scholarly fantasy. c1170 Marie de France produces her Breton lays, many of which employ the Arthurian court as a backcloth; Sir Orfeo hybridizes Arthurian romance with the classical materials that provide the other major inspiration of French verse romance. A clerk known as Thomas writes The Romance of Horn, an account of unjust dispossession followed by heroic exploits, cul- minating in eventual reinstatement. The earliest texts composing the Ro- man de Renart lay the foundations of modern animal fantasy in their elab- oration of fabular accounts of Reynard the

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