The Evolution of Modern Fantasy [electronic resource] : From Antiquarianism to the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series /
Williamson, Jamie.author.
In this comprehensive study, Williamson traces the literary history of the fantasy genre from the eighteenth century to its coalescence following the success of Tolkien's work in the 1960s. While some studies have engaged with related material, there has been no extended study specifically exploring the roots of this now beloved genre.
Cover; Half-Title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Preface; 1 Introduction: Charting the Terrain; Assembling a Genre; Criticism: Fantasy and Fantasy; The BAFS Template and the Problems of Retrojected Homogeneity; "Faery, or romance literature"; A Time and a Place; 2 The Eighteenth Century: The Forgotten Past; The Canonical Narrative; Revisions of the Classical Inheritance; Quasi- Oriental Fictions; Revisions in the English Poetic Tradition; The Forgotten Past and Lost Antiquities; Syncretism and William Blake's Mythology; Conclusion; 3 Romantic Transformations; Introduction
Earlier Romantic Narrative PoetryLater Romantic Narrative Poetry: Neo- Elizabethan Processing; Romantic Prose Fiction; German Romanticism and Phantasmion; 4 From Verse to Prose: The Victorian Period; Introduction; Victorian Verse Fantasy; Victorian Fairy Tales for Children; Victorian Fantasy for Adults; The Prose Romances of William Morris; 5 Twentieth Century: The Literary Canon; Introduction; Children's Fantasy; The Literary Branch of the BAFS Canon; The Celtic Revival; Before the War: Cabell and Some Others; After the War: Eddison and Some Others; Tolkien
Conclusion: The Question of Influence6 Twentieth Century: Popular Fantasy; Introduction; Dark Fantasy and Weird Tales: Lovecraft and Smith; Sword and Sorcery: Howard, Leiber, and Some Others; Unknown; After Unknown to the Beginnings of the Genre; Conclusion; 7 Conclusion: 1960- 80; The "First" Fantasy Writers; 1960- 74; 1975- 80; Conclusion; Notes; Index
Includes index.
In this comprehensive study, Williamson traces the literary history of the fantasy genre from the eighteenth century to its coalescence following the success of Tolkien's work in the 1960s. While some studies have engaged with related material, there has been no extended study specifically exploring the roots of this now beloved genre.
Literature, Modern-20th century.
Fiction.
Literature-History and criticism.
British literature.
America-Literatures.
Twentieth-Century Literature.
Fiction.
Literary History.
British and Irish Literature.
North American Literature.