1. Reading Interests of Adults
Image credit: Victor GAD
Marija Dalbello
Reading Interests of Adults
Fantasy
Rutgers
School of Communication and Information

2. Overview _______________________________________ Introduction
What is Fantasy?
Genre characteristics and appeal
“The Formula”
REVIEW: Fantasy as genre of Speculative fiction
History and types of fantasy
Storytelling in focus: concepts, elements, narration
Conclusion

3. What is fantasy? _______________________________________
Speculative fiction: genre of nostalgia
Most ancient of genres: tales of magic combined with adventure
Iconography: magical elements and the magical escape (dwarves, elves, unicorns, ferns, and humans - medieval)
The genre specializing in storytelling
Truths told in archetypal terms; collective myths revisited; moral intention
Inclusive in appeal, multicultural, transnational publishing phenomena
Audiences crossing boundaries of age, gender

4. Genre characteristics and appeal _______________________________________
Use of story
Use of common characters
Evocation of another world
Conflict of good and evil
Use of a quest
Resolution
Perhaps in a story such as this …

6. The literature of WHAT IF … ? _______________________________________
REVIEW: Comparing fantasy and science fiction
The literature of WHAT IF … ?
_______________________________________
Fantasy
An allegorical springboard for nostalgic leaps to the past or into alternative worlds
The Difficult truths can sometimes only be told through the
medium of fantasy. (Herald 2000, 267)
Science fiction
Imagination provides access to experience and social experiment
“Access to understanding and experiencing our past,
present, and future in terms of an imagined future” (Cramer 1994)
Argument for an imagined world-order
Science fiction is any story that argues the case for a changed world that has not yet come into being. (Herald 2006, 313)

7. _______________________________________
REVIEW: Comparing science fiction and fantasy World-building as subcreation
_______________________________________
Tolkien’s definition of the fantasy genre elements (from: On Fairy-Stories):
Creation of an internally consistent secondary world (the Subcreation)
The use of Faerie (the use of magic and enchantment)
Storytelling: world is accessed by the narrative skill of the author and the imaginative willingness of the reader

8. _______________________________________
REVIEW: Comparing fantasy and science fiction World-building
_______________________________________
Evocative fiction - Fantasy
Another world is presented as clean and whole
Another world is the place where the reader lives in for the length of the reading
We learn not only about an alternative world but also an entire and parallel world history, with myths and values, villains and heroes
Extrapolative fiction - Science fiction
Abrupt transition from our world to the fantasy world
Transitions initiated by scientific mechanisms that transport us from our world to the fantasy world

9. Historical development _______________________________________
Precursors and foundational works
Myth and epic
Babylonian: Gilgamesh
European: The Odyssey, Beowulf
European fairy tales (collectors)
Charles Perrault - 17th century
Chapbooks - Bibliothèque bleue (17th-mid-19th cent.)
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm - 19th century
Modern-day fantasy
J.R.R. Tolkien (“Inklings” group at Oxford) s
Paperbacks started appearing s and 1970s
The Science Fiction Writers of America - fantasy added in the title (speculative fiction) s
The New Wave of fantasy (from 2000)
The Harry Potter phenomenon re-launches fantasy
Recent trend: divergence between adventure tale (hero quest, sagas) and literary tale (magic realism and mainstream fiction)

10. _______________________________________
EXERCISE Storytelling: concepts, elements, narration Pacing
_______________________________________
Paragraph, sentence and chapter length
Development of narration elements, paratexts
Dialog / Description
Level of background detail
Is focus on dialog or description
Pattern and pacing
Dramatic action
Slowly evolving or immediate
Characters / plot
Revealed quickly or slowly unveiled
Multiple flashbacks
Complicated or straight-forward plot
Emphasis on what characters do, or emphasis on how they react
Ending: is it open ended or complete
Slide based on handout developed by Bonnie Kunzell

11. _______________________________________
EXERCISE Storytelling: concepts, elements, narration Characterization
_______________________________________
Characters
Quickly and readily identifiable or slowly developed
Single or multiple characters
Protagonist(s) - antagonist(s) types (including Proppian types and forms)
Is character or story most important
Series characters (are they reappearing in a body of work)
Secondary characters - what are their roles?
Point of view
Whose points of view are represented
Multiple narrations - perspectives, or unified perspective (I-form, or omniscient narrator)
What does a reader know - is reader taken into character’s mind
Slide based on handout developed by Bonnie Kunzell

12. _______________________________________
EXERCISE Storytelling: concepts, elements, narration Story line
_______________________________________
Story line intention
How is genre realized in the story line
Intention: soap opera, serious drama, comedy or satire, serious look at moral or social issues
Psychological or action oriented
Is the focus on how characters think - internal
Is the focus on activities of characters - external
Slide based on handout developed by Bonnie Kunzell

13. _______________________________________
EXERCISE Storytelling: concepts, elements, narration Frame
_______________________________________
Setting
Location could involve time or geographical place
Is there a specific place or time invoked?
Atmosphere or background
Compare across genres and works you know - is it reminiscent, evocative?
Memorable elements
Tone
Bleak, suspenseful, light, romantic, humorous, upbeat dark
Special interests
Medieval life, gardening, cooking, etc.
Other incidental information and is there much incidental information
Slide based on handout developed by Bonnie Kunzell

14. Conclusion _______________________________________
Fantasy and Science fiction are closely related
Imagining an alternative social order and society
Archetypal expression and collective myths of a large scale
Imagining the limits of humanity in terms of a Golden Age