Andrea week3

How does Attebery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least five definitions.
1, Fantasy presupposes a view of exterior reality which it goes on to contradict.

2, Any narrative which includes as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law is fantasy.

3, fantasy can involve beings whose existence we know to be impossible. e.g. dragons. Fantasy treats impossibilities without hesitation and doubt to make us believe that such things could under any circumstances come true.

4, Fantasies which contradict, not accepted model of the world , but rather the model generated within the story itself. Fantasy is what is more generally termed nonsense or absurdity.

5, Fantasy invokes wonder by making the impossible seem familiar and the familiar seem new and strange. In this way, fantasy can take advantage of our curiosity.

How is science fiction different from fantasy, according to Le Guinn ( http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html)?

By demanding a straightforward treatment of impossible characters, objects, or events, we can distinguish between fantasy and related genres. Science fiction spends much of its time convincing the reader that its seeming impossibilities are in fact explainable if we extrapolate from the world and the science that we know. But fantasy takes all the impossibilities as granted.

How do English and American constructions of fantasy diverge, according to Attebery?

Ruskin’s, MacDonald’s , Morris’s and Lewis’s are all taking the legacy of the traditional fairy tales, but Tolkien’s work is not only a extension on discussing fairy tales in terms of memorable detail but concerned with the movement of the tale, and its progression toward the ultimate and all-important happy ending.