The modern fantasy novel might hardly seem to need a defence, but its position in contemporary literature in the 1980s was still rather ambivalent. Many post-war writers had produced highly successful fantasy novels, some phenomenal publishing successes had occurred in the field, and an increasing number of universities throughout the English-speaking world now included the literary criticism of fantasy as part of their English Literature courses. None the less some critics and academics condemned the whole genre with a passion that seemed less than objectively critical.
In this book, originally published in 1984, Dr Ann Swinfen presents a wide-ranging and comprehensive view of fantasy: what it is, what it tries to achieve, what fundamental differences distinguish it from mainstream realist fiction. She concentrates on the three decades from 1945, when a new generation of writers found that Tolkein had made fantasy `respectable´. Her approach is thematic, rather than by individual author, and she brings out the profound moral purpose that underlies much modern fantasy, in a wide range of works, both British and American, such as Russell Hoban´s The Mouse and His Child, C.S. Lewis´s Chronicles of Narnia and Ursula Le Guin´s Earthsea Trilogy.
Acknowledgements. Abbreviations. 1. Fantasy and the Marvellous 2. Talking Beasts 3. Worlds in Parallel 4. Secondary Worlds 5. Layers of Meaning 6. Experience Liberated 7. Idealisms: Religious and Philosophic 8. Idealisms: Social and Political 9. The Perilous Realm. Notes. Select Bibliography. Index.
First published in 1984, Ann Swinfen presents a wide-ranging and comprehensive view of fantasy: what it is, what it tries to achieve, what fundamental differences distinguish it from mainstream realist fiction. She concentrates on the three decades from 1945, when a new generation of writers found that Tolkein had made fantasy `respectable´.
