How does Attebery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least five definitions.
The writer and the reader have to be committed to the world in which the story takes place. As Tolkien calls it a “secondary belief”. A fantasy story has to be consistent in its setting, style, characters, the magic and law of the world in which it is based.
Fantasy has to treat its departure from our world (either in the world its set e.g. Middle Earth, in its magic e.g. Harry Potter or any other fantastical departure) as though it were true. As Attebery says; “without hesitation, without doubt.” It just is.
But first of all there has to be some departure from our own laws, our own world. W.R. Irwin says there has to be “an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility.”
A lot of fantasy works involve the battle of good vs. evil. What fantasy does best is draw the lines clearly between what is right and what is wrong, between who is good and who is bad so that, unlike our world, we can see and trust and believe in whom we wish. Attebery says; “That is one of the most important accomplishments at which fantasy can aim… comprehensible form to life, death, good and evil…”
Fantasy as a genre is still a narrative story, it involves characters and plot which endangers those characters so that we care about and are concerned for what happens.
Well done :) Don't forget your reference list.
ReplyDeleteHi Bex,
ReplyDeleteGood definitions, I can tell you understand what you are talking about.
Also just like Simon said, don't forget your reference list.
Wow, fantasy has so many different meanings....I guess it depends on where writers are drawing from in order to make interpretations on the term....very interesting genre too.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you about “fantasy has to treat its departure from our world”. I counted all fantasy movies that I ever watched, there was no one totally far from reality. I can always find the elements that exist in our world or very similar with our world.
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