Marija Dalbello

Reading Interests of Adults

Fantasy

RutgersSchool of Communication and Informationdalbello@rutgers.edu

Image credit: Victor GAD

Overview _______________________________________

Introduction

What is Fantasy?

Genre characteristics and appeal

“The Formula”

• REVIEW: Fantasy as genre of Speculative fiction

History and types of fantasy

Storytelling in focus: concepts, elements, narration

Conclusion

What is fantasy? _______________________________________ Speculative fiction: genre of nostalgia

Most ancient of genres: tales of magic combined with adventure

Iconography: magical elements and the magical escape (dwarves, elves, unicorns, ferns, and humans - medieval)

The genre specializing in storytelling

Truths told in archetypal terms; collective myths revisited; moral intention

Inclusive in appeal, multicultural, transnational publishing phenomena

Audiences crossing boundaries of age, gender

Genre characteristics and appeal _______________________________________

Use of story

Use of common characters

Evocation of another world

Conflict of good and evil

Use of a quest

• Resolution

Perhaps in a story such as this …

REVIEW: Comparing fantasy and science fiction The literature of WHAT IF … ? _______________________________________

FantasyAn allegorical springboard for nostalgic leaps to the past or into alternative worlds

The Difficult truths can sometimes only be told through the

medium of fantasy. (Herald 2000, 267)

Science fiction• Imagination provides access to experience and

social experiment“Access to understanding and experiencing our past,present, and future in terms of an imagined future”

(Cramer 1994)• Argument for an imagined world-order

Science fiction is any story that argues the case for a changed world that has not yet come into being. (Herald 2006, 313)

REVIEW: Comparing science fiction and fantasyWorld-building as subcreation

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Tolkien’s definition of the fantasy genre elements (from: On Fairy-Stories):

Creation of an internally consistent secondary world (the Subcreation)

The use of Faerie (the use of magic and enchantment)

Storytelling: world is accessed by the narrative skill of the author and the imaginative willingness of the reader

REVIEW: Comparing fantasy and science fiction World-building

_______________________________________

Evocative fiction - Fantasy

• Another world is presented as clean and whole• Another world is the place where the reader lives

in for the length of the reading• We learn not only about an alternative world but

also an entire and parallel world history, with myths and values, villains and heroes

• Extrapolative fiction - Science fiction

Abrupt transition from our world to the fantasy worldTransitions initiated by scientific mechanisms that transport us from our world to the fantasy world

Historical development _______________________________________ Precursors and foundational works

Myth and epic Babylonian: Gilgamesh European: The Odyssey, Beowulf

• European fairy tales (collectors) Charles Perrault - 17th century Chapbooks - Bibliothèque bleue (17th-mid-19th

cent.) Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm - 19th century

Modern-day fantasy• J.R.R. Tolkien (“Inklings” group at Oxford) - 1930s• Paperbacks started appearing - 1960s and 1970s • The Science Fiction Writers of America - fantasy added in the title (speculative fiction) - 1990s

The New Wave of fantasy (from 2000) The Harry Potter phenomenon re-launches fantasy Recent trend: divergence between adventure tale

(hero quest, sagas) and literary tale (magic realism and mainstream fiction)

EXERCISEStorytelling: concepts, elements, narration

Pacing_______________________________________ Paragraph, sentence and chapter length

Development of narration elements, paratexts Dialog / Description

Level of background detail Is focus on dialog or description

Pattern and pacing• Dramatic action • Slowly evolving or immediate

Characters / plot Revealed quickly or slowly unveiled Multiple flashbacks Complicated or straight-forward plot Emphasis on what characters do, or emphasis on

how they react Ending: is it open ended or complete

Slide based on handout developed by Bonnie Kunzell

EXERCISE Storytelling: concepts, elements, narration

Characterization_______________________________________ Characters

Quickly and readily identifiable or slowly developed Single or multiple characters Protagonist(s) - antagonist(s) types

(including Proppian types and forms) Is character or story most important Series characters (are they reappearing in a

body of work) Secondary characters - what are their roles?

Point of view Whose points of view are represented Multiple narrations - perspectives, or unified

perspective (I-form, or omniscient narrator) What does a reader know - is reader taken into

character’s mind Slide based on handout developed by Bonnie Kunzell

EXERCISE Storytelling: concepts, elements, narration

Story line_______________________________________

Story line intention How is genre realized in the story line Intention: soap opera, serious drama, comedy

or satire, serious look at moral or social issues

Psychological or action oriented• Is the focus on how characters think - internal• Is the focus on activities of characters - external

Slide based on handout developed by Bonnie Kunzell

EXERCISE Storytelling: concepts, elements, narration

Frame_______________________________________ Setting

Location could involve time or geographical place Is there a specific place or time invoked?

Atmosphere or background Compare across genres and works you know - is

it reminiscent, evocative? Memorable elements

• Tone• Bleak, suspenseful, light, romantic, humorous, upbeat dark

• Special interests Medieval life, gardening, cooking, etc. Other incidental information and is there much

incidental information

Slide based on handout developed by Bonnie Kunzell

Conclusion _______________________________________

Fantasy and Science fiction are closely related Imagining an alternative social order and society

Archetypal expression and collective myths of a large scale

• Imagining the limits of humanity in terms of a Golden Age