Fantasy literature – what exactly is it?
In the following article we will attempt to provide a condensed guide to fantasy literature. This is by no means complete as many sub genres have not been included as we focus on the most popular and most commonly used forms.
What is a good example of fantasy literature?
We need look no further than J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. The use of magic is prevalent throughout the three books. The magical ring itself, which is centerpiece to the entire story and the magic of Gandalf, reinforce this aspect. The world of Middle-earth is similar in many aspects to our own, another element of modern day fantasy. The Elves, Orcs and other peoples that inhabit this world require an imaginative belief that marks this piece of work down as fantasy literature, specifically high fantasy.
The origins of fantasy
There is already an article concentrating on the beginnings of fantasy literature / fiction. Read the Origins of Fantasy Fiction article.
We have already mentioned that The Lord of the Rings can be placed into the sub genre of high fantasy; now let’s look in a bit more detail at some of the most popular sub genres of fantasy literature.
High fantasy
This form is sometimes also called epic fantasy. Integral to a high fantasy story is the struggle between good and evil, for example the battle between Gandalf the White and the Dark Lord Sauron strongly illustrates this point. The outcome of these struggles normally carries world-altering consequences and a strong moral vein running throughout differentiates a high fantasy novel from that of sword and sorcery. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson is another great example of high fantasy.
Sword and sorcery
The sword and sorcery sub genre become very popular in the 1950’s with the Conan the Barbarian novels by Robert E. Howard. In these novels the hero’s are usually atypical and are far from perfect and walk a fine line between doing good and serving their own self interest. More recently, David Gemmell added to this sub genre with his novels featuring Waylander.
Comic fantasy
This genre of fantasy parodies (mostly affectionately) all fantasy sub genres. It could be said that the primary objective of comic fantasy is to amuse and as such has been occasionally regarded as Low Fantasy due to not being a “serious” piece of work. The most famous author of comic fantasy is Terry Pratchett. Pratchett’s Discworld series, which began with The Colour of Magic, is an immensely popular series of comic fantasy novels.
Contemporary fantasy
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is a good example of contemporary fantasy. This is a difficult genre to define, one definition might say that the story must contain magical elements within the real world but these magical elements must remain unknown to the majority of the world’s population. The Chronicles of Narnia would not however belong in this category, as the wardrobe is just a portal to the fantasy world, this again is the case in Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry.
Saga, myth and legend
The Arthurian legends, Beowulf and the tale of Robin Hood would all fall under this genre.
Historical fantasy
This genre takes a period of history from this world’s past and introduces fantasy elements to it. One of the finest exponents of historical fantasy is Guy Gavriel Kay, his best novel, Tigana, was set in a medieval style Italy whilst The Lions of Al-Rassan has the flavour of medieval Spain. Another author who uses historical themes in his work in George R. R. Martin.
OK, so this completes our whirlwind guide to fantasy literature and it’s sub genres. We will go into these and many more in much more detail at a later date.
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2 responses to “Fantasy literature – what exactly is it?”
Jacob says:
Very informative summary of the various styles of fantasy writing. I’m glad I happened up on this page. It gets me particularly excited to carry on with this site as I’ve read every book mentioned here and agree that they are ‘top of class’.
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June 25th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Hal Lukas says:
Nice summing-up of the different sub-genres, and some tasty links – thanks!
Webmaster, I’m having trouble finding any contact details for you – is this intentional? Because I am currently looking to the pick of British sites to offer review copies of ‘Spellbound’ by Margit Sandemo, the highest-selling author in her native Scandinavia, and I would very much like you to be one of them. ‘Spellbound’ is the first book in her massive ‘Ice People’ saga, now translated into English for the first time.
Mail me back pronto with a postal address if you’d like a copy of the book, and I’ll email you some author info (fantastic stuff – reads like a saga itself), publisher info etc.
Keep up the good work
Hal Lukas