Fantasy
Stories with elements that violate
the natural, physical laws
of our known world.
• Traditional fantasy
– Oral tradition (myths, legends, folk stories, tall tales, etc.)
• Modern fantasy
– Written. Stories where we know the author (literary fairy
tales, fantasy novels, fantasy picture books, etc.)
The rules
• Fantastic elements cannot be employed casually
• Authors not only create a new set of physical laws but they
must then conform unerringly to them.
Once committed to his imaginary kingdom, the writer is not
a monarch but a subject. Characters must appear plausible
in their own setting, and the writer must go along with the
inner logic. Happenings should have logical implications.
Details should be tested for consistency. Shall animals
speak? If so, do all animals speak? If not, then which, and
how? Is it essential to the story, or lamely cute? Are there
enchantments? How powerful? If an enchanter can
perform such-and-such, can he not also do so-and-so?
(Lloyd Alexander)
Not just make believe
• Critics hold this genre to the same basic critical
standards as they do other genres. For instance,
modern fantasy must have strong, believable
characters and should examine issues of the
human condition, the universal truths found
in all well-written books.
Fantasy isn’t nonsense
Nonsense
Unconventional
Fantasy
• It contradicts rules of • It is unusual. Not
• Not possible in the
logic. It doesn’t make normal. This may be
world as we know it.
logical sense.
odd or strange, but it
But it follows rules
may still be
within the limits of
• It can make fun of
reasonable.
the fantasy world the
conventional
author has created.
behavior.
• When literature
• It can help readers
understand the
difference between
what is sensible and
not sensible in the
real world.
breaks conventions, • Fantasies provide
it helps us to rethink
metaphors through
what we thought was which we can
normal.
examine aspects of
life from a different
perspective.
Some categories
• Talking Animals: The fact that animals can talk is the main
difference from reality.
• Toys and objects that come alive
• Tiny humans: people are small. Things happen in miniature.
• Imaginary worlds: Sometimes people cross between worlds and
sometimes the whole story is in an imaginary world.
• Magical powers: People (or one person) can do magic
• Supernatural tales: sometimes spooky
• Time-warp fantasies: Time travel or somehow crossing time
• High fantasy: Clear battle between good and evil
Six Fantasy Motifs
Even though all modern fantasy stories contain some sort of
magical element, some stories have a higher fantasy quotient than
others. If a story contains all six, it is either a classic fairy tale or an
example of modern high fantasy. However, if a story contains only
the motif of magic, a necessary ingredient, it is still classified as
fantasy literature.
1. Magic
2. Other worlds
3. Good verses evil
4. Heroism
5. Special characters
6. Fantastic objects
1. Magic. Magic is fantasy literature's most basic element. In fact,
each of the other five motifs is tinged by magic to some degree.
Magic is often a part of the setting, explaining otherwise
inexplicable events. In Charlotte’s Web, magic is the only one of
the six motifs to appear in the book (the ability of the animals to
think and speak like humans).
2. Other worlds (secondary worlds). In much of fantasy, a special
geography or universe is established, a place wherein magic may
freely operate. Sometimes, the whole story is in the secondary
world, and sometimes characters move in and out of it.
3. Good versus evil. The ancient, archetypal theme of good versus
evil is the basis for much fantasy. Fantasies can show how good
and evil works out in individuals. It’s usually easy to tell who is
good and who is bad.
4. Heroism. The hero's quest is an age-old pattern that is
the backbone of many of today's fantasy stories. This
"hero's round" is a circular journey, ending where it
began. It’s most common structure contains six
elements.
– The hero is called to adventure by some sort of herald. (Alice follows the
white rabbit)
– The hero crosses from security to danger. (Alice enters Wonderland)
– The hero survives various trials, an emotional and/or physical refining
fire. They likely will be driven to examine their own hearts. (Alice’s
questions of identity)
– The hero is assisted by a protective figure. Protective figures provide a
sense of security in a tension-filled world. (The Cheshire Cat)
– The hero matures, becoming a “whole person.” (Alice is able to call
nonsense what it is)
– The hero returns home. This step completes the hero's round. (Alice
wakes up)
5. Special character types. These often come from our
legendary/folk literature past: fairies, pixies, giants, wicked
witches, ogres, vampires, wizards, dwarves, elves, and so on. Or
new characters, like playing card people and grinning cats.
6. Fantastic objects. Characters often employ magical props in
accomplishing their heroic or evil deeds: magic cloaks, swords,
staffs, cauldrons, mirrors, etc.
The Value of Fantasy
• No genre better fosters creativity than fantasy. Allows for the
imagination to create and extend metaphors in a safe (fantasy)
place.
• Children who have rich fantasy lives are less likely to be violent
than children with low fantasy lives (Biblow 1973). Children
with rich fantasy lives responded to violent films with much less
aggressiveness than children with low fantasy lives. More likely
to be verbally, than physically aggressive. More structured and
creative responses.
• All the advances in science would not be possible without the
capacity to imagine.
• Fantasy leads to the ability to imagine possibilities and to
organize and structure reality.
Fantasy as Metaphor
• Some people dismiss all fantasy as meaningless. It is
simply too fanciful for those who want reading for
young people to be grounded firmly in reality. Yet
these adults miss the point that good fantasy actually
tells the truth about life. It clarifies the human
condition and captures the essence of our deepest
emotions, dreams, hopes, and fears. If fantasy does not
do these things, it fails.
• Fantasy casts light on the realities of life much as a
metaphor illustrates truth in general communication.
• In its broad definition, metaphor is figurative language
and strengthens writing in at least three ways:
Fantasy as Metaphor cont.
1. Metaphor speeds understanding.
2. Metaphor creates interest.
3. Metaphor adds emotional appeal.
•
•
•
Yet metaphor is more than the sum of these parts. It simply involves the
reader more with the story or message, allowing for quicker learning, more
precise understanding, and longer retention because of the image.
Fantasy, which is a large, worked-out metaphor, illuminates the truths
about life in the same way.
Children can read directly about friendship, sacrifice, selfishness, the fear of
death, and death itself, but the insight is somehow more meaningful when
shown metaphorically through the lives of Wilbur the pig, Templeton the rat,
and Charlotte the spider in Charlotte’s Web.
Verisimilitude
"likeness to truth"
• noun; the appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to
be true
Examples
• In an attempt to create verisimilitude, the author filled
the dialogue with slang.
• For those plays, Ms. Smith interviewed hundreds of
people of different races and ages, somehow managing
portray their expressions, anger and quirks with
amazing verisimilitude.
Verisimilitude (cont.)
• The sense that what one reads is "real," or at least
realistic and believable. For instance, the reader
possesses a sense of verisimilitude when reading a story
in which a character cuts his finger, and the finger
bleeds. If the character's cut finger had produced sparks
of fire rather than blood, the story would not possess
verisimilitude. Fantasy novels and science fiction stories
that discuss impossible events have verisimilitude
when readers read them with suspended disbelief.
Willing Suspension of Disbelief
• Temporarily and willingly setting aside our
beliefs about reality in order to enjoy the makebelieve of a play, a poem, film, or a story.
• Samuel Coleridge coined the English phrase in
Chapter 14 of Biographia Literaria to describe the
way a reader is implicitly "asked" to set aside his
notions of reality and accept the dramatic
conventions of the theater and stage or other
fictional work.
Willing Suspension of Disbelief
• It is what enables people to be able to cry and show
great emotion when a fictional character dies
• The willing suspension of disbelief is an intermediate
state where one puts on hold the belief that the
situation is not real, but will pull back when his/her
emotions are about to go too far..
• The suspension also allows a person to have experience
he might not otherwise have. It gives the person a
richer life, and this is lacking in most people's lives.