Modern Fantasy
A Look into a Genre
Definition
• Modern Fantasy refers to literature, written by an
identifiable author, set in imaginative worlds and
make believe.
• These stories contain places, people and
creatures that could not exist or events that could
not happen such as animals talking.
• Science Fiction is considered
Modern Fantasy since it is
impossible at this time
but could happen in the future.
• Suspending disbelief- the
authors ability to make
readers suspend disbelief
and to accept the possibility
that the story could have
happened is one of the
greatest requirements for
modern fantasy.
– i.e.- In The Chronicles of
Narnia, C.S. Lewis develops
normal human characters who
visit a realistic English home,
and enter into childhood games
familiar to most children.
– When these realistic characters
confront the fantastic and
believe it readers believe it
too.
Characterization
• For readers to suspend disbelief, the character
from who's point of view a story is told must be
believable.
• Language is one way that authors of fantasy can
make characters believable.
• i.e.-In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien creates
distinct languages for different groups of
characters.
• The magical settings of traditional tales let people know that
anything is possible in those environments.
• Writers of modern fantasy may also create worlds in which
unusual circumstances are believable, or they may combine reality
and fantasy as characters or stories go back and forth between two
worlds.
• The author must develop the setting so completely that readers can
see, hear, and feel it.
*i.e.-In Eragon,detailed maps
help readers visualize the
setting. Knowing the
locations of places that are
important to the story helps
readers believe this alternate
land could be a real place.
• The constant battle between good and
evil, faith and perseverance in the face of
obstacles, personal and social
responsibility, love, and friendship are
important themes in works of modern
fantasy.
• i.e.-As found in David Almond’s Skellig
modern fantasy exemplifies some of the
strongest, most powerful themes in
literature.
• Through the characters and plot, Almond
develops the themes that love has a
redemptive power, that humans have
power to change their environments, and
that life is fragile.
• The point of view in
a story is
determined by the
authors choice of
the person telling it.
The point of view
also changes how
the story is told and
read.
• Authors of fantasy
must decide which point
of view best facilitates a
believable telling of a
story and then sustain
that point of view in
order to persuade
readers to keep
suspending disbelief in
the fantastic elements
of the story.
• i.e.- In the tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter creates
believable situations by telling the story from both Peter
Rabbits point of view and the first person’s point of view
of the story teller.
• The authoritative, realistic voice of the story teller
reassures readers that the fantastic events being
described and normal and understandable.
References
• Norton, D.E. Through the Eyes of a Child:
An Introduction to Children Literature.
• http://www.uleth.ca/edu/currlab/handouts/g
enres.html
• http://www.clt.astate.edu/sparks/Modern%
20Fantasy.htm