| Description |
x, 253 pages ; 22 cm |
| Contents |
Fantasy and the marvellous. The period. The nature of fantasy -- Talking beasts. The tradition of animal fantasy. Animal fantasy in the post-war period -- Worlds in parallel. Time fantasy. Dual world fantasy. Visionary fantasy -- Secondary worlds. The creation of secondary worlds. The literary uses of secondary worlds -- Layers of meaning. Symbolism, allegory and the marvellous -- Experience liberated. Fantasy within the primary world. Lilliputians. Profound changes of scale. Enhanced physical powers -- Idealism: religious and philosophic. Religious and philosophic bases for fantasy. C.S. Lewis. Leon Garfield. Ursula Le Guin -- Idealism: social and political. Social and political uses of fantasy. Russell Hoban. John Christopher. Richard Adams. -- The perilous realm. The value of fantasy as a literary genre |
| Summary |
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 Tolkien 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 |
| Analysis |
Fantasy fiction in English 1945- |
|
Fantasy fiction in English, 1945- - Critical studies |
| Notes |
Includes index |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 242-248) and index |
| Subject |
American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
|
|
English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
|
|
Fantasy fiction, American -- History and criticism.
|
|
Fantasy fiction, English -- History and criticism.
|
| SUBJECT |
English-speaking countries -- Intellectual life -- 20th century.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008103111
|
| LC no. |
83011164 |
| ISBN |
0710095252 (paperback) |
|
