History of fantasy
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Though the fantasy genre in its modern sense is less than two centuries old, its antecedents have a long and distinguished history. Elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were an element of literature from its beginning.
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[edit] Differences between modern and earlier fantasy
Even the most fantastic myths, legends and fairy tales, however, differ from modern fantasy genre in three respects:
Modern genre fantasy postulates a different reality, either a fantasy world separated from ours, or a hidden fantasy side of our own world. In addition, the rules, geography, history, etc. of this world tend to be defined, even if they are not described outright. Traditional fantastic tales take place in our world, often in the past or in far off, unknown places. It seldom describes the place or the time with any precision, often saying simply that it happened "long ago and far away." (A modern, rationalized analog to these stories can be found in the Lost World tales of the 19th and 20th centuries.)
The second difference is that the supernatural in fantasy is by design fictitious. In traditional tales the degree to which the author considered the supernatural to be real can span the spectrum from legends taken as reality to myths understood as describing in understandable terms more complicated reality, to late, wholly fictitious fairy tales.
Finally, the fantastic worlds of modern fantasy are created by an author or group of authors, often using traditional elements, but usually in a novel arrangement and with an individual interpretation. Traditional tales with fantasy elements used familiar myths and folklore, and any differences from tradition were considered variations on a theme; the traditional tales were never intended to be separate from the local supernatural folklore. Transitions between the traditional and modern modes of fantastic literature are evident in early Gothic novels, the ghost stories in vogue in the 19th century, and Romantic novels, all of which used extensively traditional fantastic motifs, but subjected them to authors' concepts.
By one standard, no work created before the fantasy genre was defined can be considered to belong to it, no matter how many fantastic elements it includes. By another, the genre includes the whole range of fantastic literature, both the modern genre and its traditional antecedents, as many elements which were treated as true (or at least not obviously untrue) by earlier authors are wholly fictitious and fantastic for modern readers. But even by the more limited definition a full examination of the history of the fantastic in literature is necessary to show the origins of the modern genre. Traditional works contain significant elements which modern fantasy authors have drawn upon extensively for inspiration in their own works.
The history of French fantastique literature is covered in greater detail under Fantastique.
[edit] Eastern fantasy
[edit] Primordial fantasy
- Main articles: Mesopotamian mythology, Babylonian mythology, Egyptian mythology, Abrahamic mythology
The Epic of Gilgamesh, often regarded by academics as precursory to, and instrumental in the formation of, Abrahamic mythology, was written over generations following the supposed reign of King Gilgamesh, and is seen as a mythologized version of his life. The roots of many of today's fantasy subgenres were laid in this epic, including those of Bangsian fantasy.
Many have suggested that Egyptian mythology was regarded as mainly allegorical during at least part of its history. The reason for this is that the gods and goddesses of Egyptian mythology were not seen as fixed figures, but as manifestations of a single divinity. Tales of origins and other myths were therefore subject to change for the purposes of relating moral messages or discussing various aspects of the world's nature. At times gods and goddesses could even be deconstructed or combined with other deities toward such ends. Thus, some might argue that Egyptian mythology differs from modern fantasy fiction only in that its primary function was philosophical and religious in nature, rather than simple entertainment.
The Bible, which had a great and enduring impact on Western Culture and its later works of fiction, also influenced fantasy literature. The influence tends to be hidden, however, since many authors are unwilling to risk controversy which can be caused by the use of Bible in fantasy literature.
- Epic of Gilgamesh, by an unknown author (3rd millennium BCE)
- Enuma Elish (When on High), by an unknown author (18th century BCE)
- The Book of Genesis, attributed to Moses (440 BCE)
[edit] Indian fantasy
- Main articles: Vedic mythology, Hindu mythology, Buddhist mythology
India has a long tradition of fantastical stories and characters. The Rig-Veda, the oldest text on Vedic mythology, was mostly religious in nature but had many elements found in modern fantasy fiction. There have been modern works of fantasy fiction, such as RG Veda, that were influenced by Vedic mythology.
Hindu mythology was an evolution of the earlier Vedic mythology and had many more fantastical stories and characters, particularly in the Indian epics, such as the Mahabharata by Vyasa, and the Ramayana by Valmiki.
The Ramayana was influential throughout the Far East, particularly in South East Asia where it became a national epic. The Ramayana also influenced Chinese fantasy, such as the character of Sun Wukong being influenced by Hanuman.
The Mahabharata was one of the longest fantasy fiction ever written. With its vast philosophical depth and sheer magnitude, the Mahabharata includes large amounts of Hindu mythology, cosmological stories of the gods and goddesses, philosophical parables aimed at students of Hindu philosophy, self-fulfilling prophecies, supernatural abilities, and epic battles. The Naga race, a common element in modern fiction, were also first featured in the Mahabharata. Modern adaptations of the Mahabharata include an Indian TV series by B. R. Chopra and a European mini-series by Peter Brook.
The Panchatantra (Fables of Bidpai) was influential throughout the Old World. It used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate the central Indian principles of political science through an inter-woven series of stories and stories within stories, which were sometimes three or four layers deep, and then unexpectedly snapping shut in irregular rhythms to sustain attention. The Hitopadesha was another famous collection of fantasy fables.
The Baital Pachisi (Vikram and the Vampire) is a collection of various fantasy tales set within a frame story about an encounter between King Vikramāditya and a Vetala, one of the earliest mythical creatures resembling a vampire. According to Richard Francis Burton and Isabel Burton, the Baital Pachisi "culminated in the Arabian Nights" and it "inspired the Golden Ass of Apuleius, Boccacio's Decamerone, the Pentamerone, and all that class of facetious fictitious literature."
Other Indian fantasy works include the The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature, written in South India. One of these epics, Manimekalai, as well as earlier Indian literature such as such as Kālidāsa's poem Meghaduta, the dialogue of the Yakshaprasnah ("Questions of the Yaksha"), contain some of the earliest tales about fairies, known as Yaksha, who often had a dual personality. On the one hand, a Yaksha may be an inoffensive nature-fairy, associated with woods and mountains; but there is a much darker version of the Yaksha, which is a kind of cannibalistic ogre, ghost or demon that haunts the wilderness and waylays and devours travelers, similar to the rakṣasas. The Yaksha are often featured in Japanese fantasy (transliterated as "Yasha" in Japanese) and as well as several Western fantasy works, such as The Last Vampire, where the original vampire's name is Yaksha. Various Hindu gods such as Shiva and Kali are also featured in various modern fantasy works.
- Rig-Veda (14th or 15th century BCE)
- Jaya, by Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa (7th or 8th century BCE)
- Bharata, by Vaisampayana (6th or 7th century BCE)
- Mahabharata, by Ugrasrava Sauti (5th or 6th century BCE)
- Ramayana, by Valmiki (5th or 6th century BCE)
- Panchatantra, by Vishnu Sarma (3nd century BCE)
- Vikram and The Vampire (1st century BCE)
- Hitopadesha (1st century)
- The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature (2nd to 5th centuries):
- Cilappatikaram, by Prince Ilango Adigal
- Manimekalai, by Seethalai Saathanar
- Civaka Cintamani, by Tirutakakatevar
- Valayapati, by a Jaina Tamil poet
- Kundalakesi, by a Buddhist Tamil poet
[edit] Persian and Arabian fantasy
- Main articles: Avesta, Persian mythology, Arabian mythology
Perhaps because of Tolkien's popularity, a less known religion exerts great influence on fantasy. Zoroastrianism is characterised by far-reaching dualism and spiritual and material battles of the good spirit Ahura Mazda and evil Ahriman. These are described in the Avesta texts, the earliest of which was the Gathas, composed by Zoroaster. Depictions of such wars proved irresistible to many modern fantasy authors.
Fantasy fiction in the Muslim world was mostly based on ancient Persian and Arabian mythology. The most well known fantasy fiction from the Muslim world was The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), which was a compilation of many earlier fantasy stories. This fantasy epic has been influential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century. The Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran, is a mythical and heroic retelling of Persian history. Amir Arsalan was also a popular mythical Persian story, which has influenced some modern works of fantasy fiction, such as The Heroic Legend of Arslan.
A number of elements from Persian and Arabian mythology are now common in modern fantasy, such as genies, bahamuts, magic carpets, magic lamps, etc.
- Gathas, by Zoroaster (10th century BCE)
- The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), compiled by Abu abd-Allah Muhammed al-Gahshigar (9th century)
- Shahnameh, by Ferdowsi (10th century)
- Amir Arsalan, by Mohammad Ali Naqib al-Mamalek (18th century)
[edit] East Asian fantasy
- Main articles: Chinese mythology, Japanese mythology, Korean mythology, Buddhist mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written form. There are several aspects to Chinese mythology, including creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state. Like many mythologies, some people believe it to be a factual recording of history. Many myths are better known in the US by their Japanese versions.
The most well known fantasy fiction from China was Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en, which was later influential in works of modern fantasy fiction. One of its characters, Sun Wukong, better known in the West as Monkey or Son Goku, has become a cultural icon throughout the Far East, and is also well known in the West. Other earlier examples of Chinese fantasy includes Shan Hai Jing.
Japanese mythology is a complex system of beliefs. The Shinto pantheon alone boasts a collection of more than 8,000,000 kami (Japanese for "gods" or "spirits"). Due to the influence of the ancient Chinese civilization, much of Japanese mythology and religion originated from the mainland, though there are still many myths uniquely Japanese. It embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agricultural-based folk beliefs.
The Japanese novel The Tale of Genji contains some of the earliest ghost stories, while Konjaku Monogatarishu covers various fantasy tales from India, China and Japan which depict encounters between human beings and the supernatural, such as oni and tengu. Other fantasy tales feature the Yasha (from Sanskrit "Yaksha"). These tales were influential in modern Japanese fantasy, as well as modern Western fantasy.
- Shan Hai Jing (2nd century BCE)
- The Tale of Genji (11th century)
- Konjaku Monogatarishu (12th century)
- Otogizoshi (14th or 15th century)
- Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng'en (16th century)
- Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, by Pu Songling (17th century)
- Yotsuya Kaidan (19th century)
[edit] Western fantasy
[edit] Classical fantasy
- Main articles: Greek mythology, Roman mythology, Etruscan mythology
Classical mythology is replete with fantastical stories and characters, the best known (and perhaps the most relevant to modern fantasy) being the works of Homer.
At least some ancient Greek authors were known to express open disbelief in the existence of many of the creatures that featured in Greek mythology, while some of the Greek philosophers apparently doubted the literal truthfulness of ancient Greek religion. While it is probable that the majority of the ancient Greeks held a belief in the actuality of the fantastic, there existed amongst the ancient Greek literati people who viewed the factual accuracy of the mythology to be either secondary to or at least separate from the value and meaning of the myths themselves; thus, there was a sense of willing suspension of disbelief (as opposed to actual belief) in the fantastic. Such suspension of disbelief was also necessary for appreciating many known original works, particularly dramatic presentations, in classical antiquity (see fourth wall).
While the degree to which Classical fiction resembles modern fantasy is debatable, it is significant that it is from this tradition that most of the conventions in the arts of western civilization ultimately derive. Depending on one's interpretation, it could therefore be said that something resembling fantasy fiction, as we now know it, was fundamental to the development of western thinking and modern fantasy by extension. This would seem to place the fantasy genre firmly within a long and distinguished tradition of story-telling, as many fans as well as a growing number of academics have suggested.
The above mentioned works, although they included many fantastic elements, differ from modern fantasy as to their literary genre. They were written in verse, and belong either to epic poetry or drama. In that respect there is a greater similarity between modern fantasy and ancient novel. Works of Apuleius and Lucian of Samosata were created in the mature period of classical civilisation, which often resembled modernity, for example in its individualistic attitude to religion.
- Odyssey, Homer (7th or 8th century BCE)
- Iliad, Homer (7th or 8th century BCE)
- Aeneid, Virgil (1st century CE)
- The Golden Ass, Lucius Apuleius (Date?)
- True History, Lucian of Samosata (Date?)
[edit] Medieval fantasy
Main articles: Arthurian legend, Fornaldarsagas, Fairy tales, Medieval folklore, Romance (genre)
Medieval fantasy was preserved primarily in epic poetry and in the Fornaldarsagas, Norse and Icelandic sagas, both of which are based on ancient oral tradition.
The story of Beowulf was of particular interest, as the events of the story take place roughly four hundred years before the writing of the text. The characters in the story are unalloyed Pagans, whereas the author(s) is clearly Christian. A story about a past society in which a brave hero vanquishes dangerous monsters, placed within the framework of (what was then) contemporary society's beliefs and ideals, is a formula that has become an instant indicator of fantasy fiction in the years since. Though the story of Beowulf was by no means the first to do this, many of its presumably more original elements have also had huge impacts on the fantasy genre. Grendel's attacks on the Heorot, for example, established the formula of later horror stories, and this portion of the tale can be seen as precursory to dark fantasy. Grendel was also the prototypical orc, inspiring J. R. R. Tolkien's race of the same name and the majority of subsequent incarnations.
Beowulf was part of the Germanic legends, most prominently preserved in the Fornaldarsagas, literally tales of times past, or Legendary sagas. They were Norse sagas which unlike the Icelandic sagas take place before the colonization of Iceland, often based on older norse poems, such as those found in the Norse epic poem, the Elder Edda, although most of these poems have now been lost. There are however, some exceptions, such as Yngvars saga víðförla, which takes place in the 11th century.
The setting is Scandinavia, but occasionally it moves temporarily to more distant and exotic locations. There are also very often mythological elements, such as gods, dwarves, elves, dragons, giants and magic swords. The heroes often embark on dangerous quests where they fight the forces of evil, dragons, witchkings, barrow-wights, and rescue fair maidens.
Many or most of the sagas are based on distant historic events and this is evident in cases where there are corroborating sources, such as Göngu-Hrólfs saga, Ragnars saga loðbrókar, Yngvars saga víðförla and Völsunga saga. In the case of Hervarar saga the names in the Gothic setting indicate a historic basis, and the latter parts of the saga are still used as a historic source for Swedish history. They often contain very old Germanic matter, such as the Hervarar saga and the Völsunga saga which contains poetry about Sigurd that did not find its way into the Poetic Edda and which would otherwise have been lost. Other sagas deal with heroes such as Ragnar Lodbrok, Starkad, Orvar-Odd, Hagbard and Signy. The Völsunga saga, the Hervarar saga, and Hrólfs saga kraka, among others are believed to be based on historical events during the migration of the Huns and Germanic tribes at the time of the fall of the Roman Empire, based on similarities to historical documents and oral tradition from other parts of Europe, such as the Nibelungenlied and Beowulf.
The starting point of the fornaldarsagas' influence on the creation of the Fantasy genre is the publication, in 1825, of the most famous Swedish literary work Frithjof's saga, which was based on the Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna, and it became an instant success in England and Germany. It is said to have been translated twenty-two times into English, twenty times into German, and once at least into every European language, including modern Icelandic in 1866. Their influence on authors, such as J. R. R. Tolkien, William Morris and Poul Anderson and on the subsequent modern fantasy genre is considerable, and can perhaps not be overstated.
The above-mentioned tales (with the exception of a late kind of sagas called lygisogur, "lying sagas") can be called fantasy only from the modern point of view. For their authors, they were more or less factual and historic; if not outright true, at least possible and probable.
There existed however a genre which embraced fantasy, and which didn't simply follow traditional myths and fables, but, in its final form, boldly created new marvels from the whole cloth. The genre in question is medieval romance. Romance at first dealt with traditional themes, above all three thematic cycles of tales, assembled in imagination at a late date as the Matter of Rome (actually centered on the life and deeds of Alexander the Great), the Matter of France (Charlemagne and Roland, his principal paladin) and the Matter of Britain (the lives and deeds of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, within which was incorporated the quest for Holy Grail).
Also noteworthy are the German epic, the Nibelungenlied and the Finnish epic, the Kalevala. The former, based on the same ancient legends as the Volsunga saga and many poems of the Elder Edda, inspired Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen, which can be considered fantasy in its own right. The latter, although not published until the 19th century, is compiled from oral tradition dating back to this period, and perhaps even earlier, is also considered a source of inspiration for Tolkien. Finally, the Welsh epic the Mabinogion and the Irish epic the Tain can be considered fantasy as they relate stories involving mythical creatures and a magical otherworld.
The last work worth mentioning for its influence on fantasy genre is the Divine Comedy. It can, again, be called fantasy from the modern point of view. For its author, it was science fiction - he tried to show nearly complete image of the world according to best scientific knowledge of the time, but enlivened with characters and action.
- Beowulf, Anonymous (1000)
- The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri (1321)
- Poetic Edda, Anonymous
- Volsunga saga, Anonymous
- Nibelungenlied, Anonymous
- Hervarar saga, Anonymous
- Kalevala, Elias Lonnrot
- Mabinogion, Anonymous
[edit] Renaissance fantasy
During Renaissance romance continued to be popular. The trend was to fantastic fiction. Exemplary work, such as the English Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (c.1408–1471), and the Spanish Amadis de Gaula (1508), (both written in prose) spawned many imitators, and the genre was popularly well-received, producing such masterpiece of renaissance poetry as Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso and Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata and other 16th century literary works in the romance genre.
The best known romance epic poem in English language is The Faerie Queene of Edmund Spenser. The poem is deeply allegorical and allusive, Leaving allegory aside, however, the action is that of a typical knightly romance, involving knightly duels, and combats against giants and sorcerers. That is probably the first work in which most of the characters are not men, but elves (although the difference seems to be rather little). There are mentioned also the wars between goblins and elves, which were destined to have a great future in fantastic fiction.
Also during this time, Giambattista Basile wrote and published the Pentamerone, a collection of literary fairy tales, which includes the oldest recorded form of many well-known (and more obscure) European fairy tales. This was the beginning of a tradition that would both influence the fantasy genre and be incorporated in it, as many works of fairytale fantasy appear to this day.
Although witchcraft and wizardry were both believed to be actual at the time, such motifs as the fairies in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Weird Sisters in Macbeth and Prospero in The Tempest (or Doctor Faustus in Christopher Marlowe's play) would be deeply influential on later works of fantasy.
The tale of Don Quixote, while not containing especially "fantastic" elements, in addition to being one of the earliest novels in modern European language, is important because it is nearly only romance which survived as a living, popular book. Paradoxically, it is at the same time a deep critique of romance and fantasy as a whole.
Its protagonist suffers from magical thinking, sometimes called the fantasy-driven mind. As such, the story directly addresses medieval fantasy, legends, and fairytales in much the same way that Mazes and Monsters (1982) addressed fantasy role-playing games -- albeit in not quite so negative a light.
- Le Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory (1485)
- Orlando Furioso, Ludovico Ariosto (1516)
- La Gerusalemme liberata, Torquato Tasso (1575)
- The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser (1590)
- The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe, (1592)
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare, mid 1590's
- Macbeth, William Shakespeare, between 1603 and 1606
- Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes (1604)
- The Tempest, William Shakespeare, (1611)
- Pentamerone, Giambattista Basile, (1634)
- Paradise Lost, John Milton (1667)
[edit] Utopian Fiction of Renaissance
Main articles: Utopian and dystopian fiction, Utopia, The City of the Sun, The New Atlantis
In year 1516 Sir Thomas More wrote a book under the title "De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia" (translated On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia) or more simply Utopia. The name of the place, Utopia, is derived from the Greek words ou ("not") and topos ("place"), meaning the name of the island is literally "no place." The book depicts a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. It can be regarded as an ideal society, although some of its institutions are written with tongue in cheek (eg chamberpots made of gold, to encourage contempt of riches).
Thomas More was influenced by Lucian of Samosata and Plato's Republic, the word Utopia overtook More's short work and has been used ever since to describe this kind of imaginary society with many unusual ideas being contemplated. Although he may not have founded the genre of Utopian and dystopian fiction, More certainly popularised it.
Utopia created a whole new genre of Utopian and dystopian fiction. Works in it include:
- The City of the Sun (1602) by Tommaso Campanella,
- Description of the Republic of Christianopolis (1619) by Johannes Valentinus Andreae,
- New Atlantis (1626) by Francis Bacon
[edit] Fantasy Literature during the Enlightenment
Literary fairy tales, such as were written by Charles Perrault, and Madame d'Aulnoy, became very popular, early in this era. Many of Perrault's tales became fairy tale staples, and influenced latter fantasy as such.
Following somewhat in the footsteps of Don Quixote, Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift used satire in the form of fantasy to parody many of the political and social conventions of its time, and can be considered the earliest work of modern-style fantasy. Swift's use of fictional countries and other lands was likely a major influence on what would later become the fantasy genre.
Enlightenment authors used widely speculative fiction for the purposes of argumentation and education. Their works tend to follow somewhat in the tradition of Utopia by Thomas Moore, and also of Apuleius and Lucian of Samosata. Their protagonist tends, similarly to Gulliver, to transverse strange and foreign countries with even more strange customs (usually invented as a criticism of some more real tradition). In some there is a strong influence of the picaresque novel. The closest modern equivalent to them are the Dying Earth tales by Jack Vance. It is difficult to classify the Enlightenment romances as science fiction or fantasy - in reality they are neither, but belong to their own, now nearly defunct, genre of speculative fiction, sometimes called conte philosophique (a philosophical tale).
The first after Swift, and certainly most famous in his time of those authors was Voltaire. His Candide has only slight elements of fantasy. Sardonic in outlook, it follows the naïve protagonist Candide from his first exposure to the precept that "all is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds," and on through a series of adventures that dramatically disprove that precept even as the protagonist clings to it. The only fantastic element is the strange society of Eldorado, clearly influenced by Moore's utopia, that he encounters.
Micromégas (1752) is more similar to the later science fiction. Micromégas, the protagonist, is a gigantic being, nearly five kilometres tall, from the star Sirius. In his travels between the stars he befriends a native of the planet Saturn who is only a kilometre high, a mere dwarf beside the protagonist. Together these two travel to Earth, and converse with various philosophers.
The need for fantastic literature didn't disappear during the Age of Enlightenment. The general antipathy to the medieval European fantasy, however, caused the near disappearance of the old romance genre. In its place — and alongside fairy tales — appeared works imported from the East. The most influential of these was The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. Part of its popularity may have sprung from the increasing historical and geographical knowledge, so that places of which little was known and so marvels were plausible had to be set further "long ago" or farther "far away"; this is a process that continue, and finally culminate in the fantasy world having little connection, if any, to actual times and places.
It was first imported into Europe in a translation into French (1704 - 1717) by Antoine Galland. This book "Les Mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français" (in 12 volumes) was widely popular and was followed by translations into other European languages. Perhaps the best-known to English speakers is the translation by Sir Richard Francis Burton, published as The Arabian Nights. Unlike previous editions, his 16-volume translation was not bowdlerized. Though published in the Victorian era, it contained all the erotic nuances of the source material.
- Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose, Charles Perrault, (1697)
- Les Contes des Fees, Madame d'Aulnoy (1698)
- Contes Nouveaux ou Les Fees a la Mode, Madame d'Aulnoy (1698)
- Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift (1726)
- Micromegas, Voltaire (1752)
- Candide , Voltaire (1759)
- The Book of One Thousand and One Nights
[edit] Romanticism
Main articles: Gothic novel, Romanticism.
In reaction to Enlightenment's cult of Reason, Romanticism highly prized the supernatural, tradition and imagination, together with the age in which they were supposed to rule - Middle Ages. These traits readily borrowed traditional elements of the fantastic.
One of the first literary results of this fascinations was Gothic novel, a literary genre that began in Britain with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. It is the predecessor to both modern fantasy and modern horror fiction and, above all, has led to the common definition of "gothic" as being connected to the dark and horrific. Prominent features of gothic novels included terror, mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted buildings, castles, trapdoors, doom, death, decay, madness, hereditary curses, and so on.
Ann Radcliffe, who became most popular of gothic writers, created the gothic novel in its now-standard form. Among other elements, Radcliffe introduced the brooding figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the Byronic hero. Unlike Walpole's, her novels, beginning with The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), were best-sellers, and virtually everyone in English society was reading them. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) is undoubtedly one of the most important literary triumphs of this period.
Other important authors included Matthew Gregory Lewis, author of The Monk (1796), a shocking at the time tale of sex, violence and debauchery, and William Thomas Beckford, author of Vathek, an Arabian Tale (1786), inspired by The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.
At about the same time, parallel Romantic literary movements developed in continental Europe: the roman noir ("black novel") in France and the Schauerroman ("shudder novel") in Germany. Writers of the roman noir include François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil, Baculard d'Arnaud, and Madame de Genlis.
In the later part of the Romantic tradition, in another reaction to the spirit of the Enlightenment, folklorists were collecting folktales and bringing them out in printed form. The Brothers Grimm were inspired in their collection, Grimm's Fairy Tales, by the movement of German Romanticism. Many other collectors were inspired by the Grimms and the similar sentiments. Frequently their motives stemmed not merely from Romanticism, but from Romantic nationalism, in that many were inspired to save their own country's folklore: sometimes, as in the Kalevala, they compiled existing folklore into an epic to match other nation's; sometimes, as in Ossian, they "constructed" folklore that should have been there.
Despite the nationalistic elements confusing the collections, this movement not only preserved many instances of the folktales that involved magic and other fantastical elements, it provided a major source for later fantasy. Many later works that are now called fantasies were called fairy tales at the time of the writing, when the genre had not been defined clearly; J.R.R. Tolkien's seminal essay on fantasy writing was titled "On Fairy Stories."
- The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole (Full text at Project Gutenberg)
- Vathek, an Arabian Tale (1786) by William Thomas Beckford (Full text at Project Gutenberg)
- The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe (Full text at Project Gutenberg)
- The Monk (1796) by Matthew Gregory Lewis (Full text at Project Gutenberg)
- The Italian (1797) by Ann Radcliffe
- Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley (Full text at Wikisource)
- The Vampyre; a Tale (1819) by John William Polidori (Full text at Project Gutenberg)
- Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) by Charles Robert Maturin (Full text at HorrorMasters.com)
[edit] Modern fantasy
The modern fantasy genre first took root during the 18th century with the increased popularity of fictional travelers' tales, influencing and being influenced by other early forms of speculative fiction along the way, finally unfurling in the 19th century from a literary tapestry of fantastic stories and gaining recognition as a distinct genre (mainly due to the nigh-ubiquitous recession of fantastic elements from "mainstream" fiction) in the late 1800's.
[edit] Early modern fantasy
It was in the late 1800s and early 1900s, that modern fantasy genre first truly began to take shape. The history of modern fantasy literature begins with George MacDonald, the scottish author of such novels as The Princess and the Goblin and Phantastes the latter of which is widely considered to be the first fantasy novel ever written for adults. MacDonald was a major influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Their literary group, The Inklings was originally created for the purpose of studying MacDonald's work and creating new writings in the author's style. The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, a socialist, an admirer of Middle Ages, a reviver of British handcrafts and a poet, who wrote several fantastic romances and novels in the latter part of the century, of which the most famous was' 'The Well at the World's End.
Despite MacDonald's future influence, and Morris' popularity at the time, it wasn't until the turn of the century that fantasy fiction began to reach a large audience. Edward Plunkett, better known as Lord Dunsany established the genre's popularity both in the novel and short story form. Many popular mainstream authors also began to write fantasy at this time including Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard. These authors, along with Abraham Merritt, building on the convention established by H. Rider Haggard developed what came to be known as the Lost World sub-genre, which was the most popular form of fantasy in the early decades of the 20th. However, several classic children's fantasies such as Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz were also published around this time.
- Phantastes, George MacDonald, (1858)
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll (1865)
- The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald, (1872)
- King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard, (1885)
- The Well at the World's End, William Morris (1892)
- Dracula, Bram Stoker (1897)
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum (1900)
- Peter Pan (originally Peter and Wendy), J.M. Barrie (1911)
- The Worm Ouroboros, Eric Rucker Eddison (1922)
- The King of Elfland's Daughter, Lord Dunsany (1924)
- Lud-in-the-Mist, Hope Mirrlees (1926)
[edit] Modern fantasy
In 1923 the first all-fantasy fiction magazine, Weird Tales was created. Many other similar magazines eventually followed, most noticably The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The pulp magazine format was at the height of its popularity at this time and was instrumental in bringing fantasy fiction to a wide audience in both the U.S. and Britain. Such magazines also played a large role in the rise of science fiction and it was at this time the two genres began to be associated with each other.
Several of the genere's most prominent authors began their careers in the afore mentioned magazines including Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber, Ray Bradbury and most noticably H. P. Lovecraft, who with his Cthulhu Mythos stories became one of the most influential writers of fantasy and horror in the twentieth century. The early works of many Sword and Sorcery authors such as Robert E. Howard also began at this time.
By 1950 Sword and Sorcery fiction had began to find a wide audience, with the scucess of Howard's Conan the Barbarian, and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. However, it was the advent of high fantasy and, most importantly, the popularity of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings which finally allowed fantasy to truly enter into the mainstream. Tolkien had published The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in the 1950s, but although they had been successful in Britain it wasn't until the late 1960s that they finally became popular in America. The impact that his books, combined with the success of several other series such as C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea, helped cement the genre's popularity and gave birth to the current wave of fantasy literature.
- Conan the Barbarian, Robert E. Howard (c. 1930)
- The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien (1937)
- The Incomplete Enchanter, Fletcher Pratt & L. Sprague de Camp (1941)
- The Dying Earth, Jack Vance (1950)
- Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake (1950)
- The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis (1950) - (1956)
- The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien (1954-1955)
- The Once and Future King, T. H. White (1958)
- A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle (1962)
- A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin (1968)
[edit] Post-Tolkien Fantasy
With the immense success of Tolkien's works many publishers began to search for a new series which could have similar mass-market appeal. For the first time publishing fantasy was looked at as a proffitable business venture and fantasy novels began to replace the fiction magazines as the heart of the genre.
Although many fantasy novels of this time proved popular, it was not until 1977's The Sword of Shannara that publishers found the sort of breakthrough success they had hoped for. The book became the first fantasy novel to appear on, and eventually top New York Times bestseller list. As a result the genre saw an incredible boom in the number of titles published in the following years.
While fantasy has remained somewhat of a niche market, that has began to to change in recent years. Thanks largely to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, which have become the best selling book series of all time, fantasy is becoming increasingly intertwined with mainstream fiction. The blockbuster success of several film adaptations of fantasy novels such as The Lord of the Rings and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has helped further this trend.
Today fantasy continues as an expansive, multi-layered medium encompassing many sub-genres of literature; from traditional high fantasy and swords and sorcery, to magical realism, fairytale fantasy, horror-tinged dark fantasy and more.
- Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny (1970)
- The Riddle-Master of Hed, Patricia A. McKillip (1976)
- The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks (1977)
- Little, Big, John Crowley (1981)
- The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe (1981) - (1983)
- The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley (1983)
- The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan (1990)
- His Dark Materials, Phillip Pullman (1995) - (2000)
- The Icewind Dale Trilogy, R.A. Salvatore (1988) - (1990)
- The Harry Potter Novels , J.K. Rowling (1998) - (2007)
- Eragon, Christopher Paolini (2003)
