Introduction to Fantasy Literature
Fantasy literature consists of a wide range of material. As mentioned in the syllabus, any story with a fantastic element, however small or insignificant, qualifies as a fantasy. Many of the enduring classics of literature for young people are fantasies: Winnie the Pooh, The Wind in the Willows, and Alice in Wonderland. And, some of the most popular children's books of all time are also fantasies: the Harry Potter series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, A Wrinkle in Time, and Charlotte's Web. We also see cycles of fantasy writing come and go. Since the mid-nineties there has been a proliferation of new fantasy writing, led largely, though not entirely, by J.K. Rowlings' Harry Potter books.
Enjoying fantasy is about believing, and sometimes this can be complex. For instance, Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt's brilliant story of eternal life and the desirability of death, actually reveals to the reader no fantastic elements: there are no elves, wizards, or dragons. The fantasy exists only because the reader believes the Tuck family's claims to having drunk from the fountain of youth. Babbitt doesn't show the Tucks' defying death in any way until the very end of the story when we see the unaged Tucks some eighty years after the events of the novel occur standing over Winnie Foster's grave. (Winnie, the main character, is about 10 years old when she meets the Tucks and hears their claims to be immortal.) Until that point the only proof Winnie Foster and the reader have of the Tucks' claims to immortality is the words of the Tuck family.
And there you have it, a paradox. Though fantasy literature by definition contains an element of the impossible, for it to be good fantasy literature, we, the readers, must believe it. We must believe that the Tucks are immortal, that hobbits live in well-kept holes, and that ordinary boys just might be powerful wizards. Coleridge called this "the willing suspension of disbelief," and it is absolutely necessary for the enjoyment of fantasy.
At this point, you should go to the Lessons tab, select Fantancy Literature Overview folder, and select the presentation -Fantasy Literature for Children - Overview (or its printer-friendly version). It presents different defintions of fantasy and lists the main categories of fantasy literature, highlighting key books corresponding with the categories, some of which we will read in this course. The categories, including literary fairy tales, toy fantasies, ghosts/horror/suspense, science fiction, reworked fairy tales, low fantasy, and high fantasy, will give you a better understanding of the framework of how this course is structured. The presentation also provides a number of evaluating questions for fantasy literature. The definitions and the questions will help you examine fantasy literature in depth through the course. Please note that it will only be available online during the week of this lesson, so please print the pages in order to keep a copy.
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