Introduction to Fantasy

….the bulk of English fantasy seems to be written by rabbits, about rabbits and for rabbits.

How much further can it go?^[1]

—Michael Moorcock

In the broadest possible sense of the word, every genre discussed in this OER (and a few we haven’t discussed) is a type of fantasy. We fantasize, daydream, make up new and different worlds. Some of these fantasies are private and only take place in our heads. Others are fashioned for public consumption according to certain literary traditions, conventions, and reader expectations. Fantasy literature is of the latter variety.

Fantasy literature is difficult to pin down, so much so that the fantasy critic Brian Atteberry calls it a “fuzzy set.” In mathematics, a set is a collection of objects that fit certain parameters; so, the “set” of books written by Asimov is a “subset” of all the books ever written, and so on. A fuzzy set is, then, a set without a clear object. Because ‘fantasy’ is a general human activity and several literary genres at once, fantasy is hard to describe. When Atteberry asked other scholars to rank 40 works on a scale of one to seven, one being quintessentially fantasy literature, Tolkien scored nearly unanimous ones.^[2] Orthodox and reactionary readers see any deviation from the Tolkienian model as poison to the continued vitality of fantasy literature, but the Tolkienian model will not serve in every instance; as we will see below, even texts that deviate widely from Tolkien’s model still share enough similarities to be part of the fuzzy set called fantasy literature. Middle-Earth serves, then, more as general principle than hard and fast rule. We speak about Tolkien not because he started this genre but rather because the creation of Middle-Earth marks a defining moment in the development of the genre^[3], the first concerted effort by a fantasy writer to create an entirely self-sufficient and distinct virtual world. Additionally, The Lord of the Rings occupies a huge place in the popular consciousness, primarily thanks to the Peter Jackson films (2001-2003).

The genre itself has been developing since approximately the 17th century, an era during which fantasy writers praised the ability of the creative mind once it broke with the strictures of reality. Difficult, after admitting that, to dodge the charge of “escapism,” an epithet often levied by those who think reality and realty alone is the properly adult realm^[4]. Yet never before has fantasy literature been so widely produced and read.

Like Tolkien, much fantasy literature engages in mythopoesis or the making of myth. These are strange myths though, blending  high and low culture in ways that would have scandalized earlier audiences. This might not seem at first apparent, but consider Tolkien again as our point of reference. The ogres of Westcountry folklore, the hobbits of Tolkien’s own creation, reiterations of the Arthurian and Christian theme of “the Return of the King”—and all in the same text! This might not seem sacrilegious to modern readers, so it bears repeating: the superstitious tales of the common folk side-by-side with national and religious myths—once upon a time, that was a radical idea indeed.

Before y’all go writing heroic adventures crossovers where Ironman and Odysseus team-up to beat the Dark Lord and save Fantasyland^[5], let’s take a closer look at the history of this genre we call fantasy.