Reading Highlights
The following may not cover all of the assigned readings for the lesson. Always be sure to check your syllabus schedule for reading specifics.
Readers tend to have strong feelings about fantasy literature and it seems to be a genre readers either dislike or are passionately devoted to. As discussed in the Lesson Overview, in the readings for this week, you will engage four different justifications for the importance of fantasy literature.
W.H. Auden | James Britton | Tamora Pierce | Peter Hunt
W. H. Auden
The first reading, W. H. Auden's "Afterword -- George MacDonald," refers to differences between the Primary World and the Secondary World of our imagination. Auden argues that we cannot help but create secondary worlds -- our human minds just work that way. Auden seems to be anticipating an argument the great psychologist Jerome Bruner would make several decades later in his book Actual Minds, Possible Worlds: that the major activity of human cognition is to make "worlds" -- real and imagined.
James Britton
Next is James Britton's essay,"The Role of Fantasy." Britton picks up on Auden's idea of world making. He discusses the role of language in world making and moves into a discussion of "play." This takes him to D.W. Winnicott's work on play and imagination. Winnicott postulates that cultural experience begins with play, and that there exists a "third area," separate from the outer real world and the inner world of the self. This "third area" is a space where humans can try out ideas in relative safety -- in other words, this is a space for dreaming and fantasizing.
Tamora Pierce
The next essay, "Fantasy: Why Kids Read It, Why Kids Need It," is written by Tamora Pierce, a prolific writer of fantasy. You'll notice how her essay builds upon the ideas of Britton and Winnicott, how she argues for the benefits of fantasy literature. In many ways, she makes Britton's ideas more concrete and specific to fantasy literature.
Peter Hunt
Finally, you'll read Peter Hunt's "Introduction" chapter in the Hunt and Lenz, Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction. Hunt's chapter rambles a bit, but he will take you through many of the criticisms leveled at fantasy literature and then will counter them. He'll attempt to define fantasy, or at least discuss what tends to be characteristic of fantasy. You'll see ideas from the other three essays popping up here and there. Hunt will also take you on a brief tour of the history of fantasy literature for children. You might find Hunt a little frustrating because he discusses many, many different books as though you already know them. He does also sprinkle in some technical terminology such as "bildungsroman" and "metafictive."
Taken together, these readings argue that pretending and making up imaginary worlds are vital to human mental health. Fantasizing through the reading of fantasy literature can therefore provide nourishment for our mental and spiritual health.
Remember that the image will indicate throughout the course the readings that deal with the overall importance of this type of reading in the lives of children.