Fantasy literature

C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, on November 29, 1898. He was a Christian author and most of his writing consisted of apologetics and philosophy. He is best known for his famous book series, The Chronicles of Narnia. He also wrote another classic novel entitled, The Screwtape Letters, which covers the many ways that a high ranking demon, who is called Screwtape, temps an ordinary man referred to as the Patient. Although it proved to be very difficult, the Patient perseveres in overcoming the various tactics that Screwtape intends to bring the Patient down. Edward D. Myers stated that, “They are allegories only to the extent that, being from the fiendish and not the human point of view, they veil discussions of moral problems by a reversal of standards.” By observing the viewpoint of the demonic realm, we come to realize the many different tactics the feins use against the human race as well as the internal struggle of humanity. In The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Screwtape mentors Wormwood in using various tactics to persuade the Patient into the Devil's camp with three primary, though unsuccessful tactics; distraction, pleasure and spiritual pride. In many ways, the Patient represents the everyman and his all too common, psychomachia. One of Screwtape’s most powerful weapons he can use to keep Christians from being used by God is many different kinds of distraction. Being distracted by noise people engross themselves in activities that turn their…

By becoming the father of the fantasy genre J.R.R Tolkien changed the modern fantasy literature by bringing it into popular culture again. Tolkien’s fascination of literature, creation of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series, and high level of education put him a step above the rest in the world of writing. To this day his legacy lives on with his books becoming film adaptations, video games, spin-offs, etc. As a child J.R.R. Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien) had a what some would consider…

In Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, (rpt. in Greg Johnson and Thomas R. Arp, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 12th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2015] 1136-1185) each individual character thrives to make their fantasy reality. The story takes place around the same time frame as The Great Depression making the Wingfield’s dreams almost impossible to come true. Amanda, Laura, and Tom Wingfield are defiantly different, however the family all share the aspiration of a fantasy…

A Look Into The World Of Fantasy Fantasy as we know it today is by far the most difficult of all the genres to pinpoint a clear definition. In the book A Critical Handbook of Children’s Literature 9th Edition, it is defined to “depict a world unlike the one we usually call real.” (Lukens, Smith, Coffel, 2013) and others have define it has magical or dreamlike places. No matter how you define it the goal of Fantasy is to take readers away from the normalcy of everyday life and has long done so…

at the zoo, or the local conservatory, slipping even further from reality. Laura preferred to be locked in her own fantasy world, far from the real world. She could care less about getting a career or finding gentlemen, much to her mother’s dislike. Amanda wants her to be an intelligent woman, able to entertain potential suitors with her brains and character, just like she supposedly did when she was younger. Amanda cannot accept her daughter’s peculiar personality, nagging on her supposed…

In the book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, there are a lot of themes that can be found and applied to the real world, even though this book is a fantasy book. These themes can help you deal with hardships in your life. An example of one theme would be the theme of love. The theme I will be talking about is that you have to go through the times where there’s sadness and the times where there’s happiness, because where there is sadness, there is happiness. Or in another term, when there…

Predecessor to the 80’s cult classic, The Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal was legendary puppeteer Jim Henson’s first attempt at creating a fantasy motion picture filmed entirely with intricate animatronics and puppets. The film is complete with heroes, villains and the other main elements of fantastical narratives as described by Russian scholar and folklorist Vladimir Propp in his breakthrough work, Morphology of the Folktale, which states that there is a sequence of 31 functions — certain actions…

Literature is an important aspect in a child’s development. Fantasy helps a child’s imagination blossom, letting them diminish fear in their minds. In the article “Why the British Tell Better Children’s Stories,” author Colleen Gillard explores the psychological and physical aspects as to why the British tell better children’s stories than Americans do. Gillard believes children’s stories can help shape the hope kids need to face their beliefs of adulthood. The British do have better children’s…

Hank the Cowdog, which was about a dog who lived on a farm and would always go on adventures, such as saving the farm from coyotes or rescuing the pretty collie next door. In the 5th grade I started reading two of my now favorite series, A Series of Unfortunate Events and 39 Clues, which most of my friends recommended to me. Another one of my favorite books at this time, and still is today, is A Wrinkle in Time. One of the many reasons I loved this book was because it explores the depth of…

The fantasy genre is one imagination and extensive thought that allows the writer to portray an invented world that cannot exist. The most successful novels of this genre (as argued by Peter Dickinson) are the ones that can successfully interweave realism into fantasy. Peter Dickinson, author of Fantasy: The Need for Realism argues that the problem with fantasy is that it is useless in an unimagined world, as the impossibilities are unrealistic. In his argument Dickinson identifies that in order…