How does Attebery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least five definitions.
Attebery (1980), states that it is indeed difficult to think of one specific definition for the word or the genre of Fantasy. Thinking of a definition for fantasy which is not vague wouldn’t be an easy task. Attebery (1980), says that a simple way to define fantasy would be to consider all the possible fantasy writings, such as Tolkeins, The lord of the Rings, Lewis, Narnia and Perelandra books, The wind in the willows, the Alice books, The princess and the Goblins and all of George Macdonald’s magical stories etc. Attebery (1980), also goes on to saying that the list does not end here. When we name these famous works, we also have to consider other fantasy standard works, such as Gothicism, Science fictions, Utopia etc, as these types also share the typical characteristics of the fantasy genre.
However, at some stage it becomes necessary to come up with a definition by considering the important and general characteristics the fantasy genre consists. Irwin (1975, p.4), describes fantasy as “a narrative is a fantasy, if it is present the persuasive establishment and development of an impossibility, an arbitrary construct of the mind with all under the control of logic and rhetoric”. This definition is perhaps a more general idea of fantasy presented in a complex way but is certainly a precise definition.
When the word ‘fantasy’ appears the first idea that comes to mind is what the above definitions states, which is; the mind develops impossible ideas which one might like to think about but which is impossible to act upon or is impossible to happen, such as the idea of wizardry. This is one of the popular ideas seen in many fantasy genre based stories and films.
Attebery (1980, p.3), defines fantasy as “any narrative which includes as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the culture clearly believes to be natural law.. That is fantasy”. Attebery (1980), then goes on to explaining that fantasy involves impossible beings such as, talking of dragons, flying horses. Fantasy nature or genre also includes magical objects such as magical hats, rings, castles, voices and human attributes given to objects, which do not exist in reality. Unrealistic scenes, such as tree reaching out to grab passer by or people exchanging heads, all these ideas are set in a way that it makes us feel that some how is possible which defines fantasy.
Moreover, Froster (1927, p.108), describes fantasy by giving it a very different concept, by saying that fantasy asks its readers to “pay something extra”. By saying this he means that fantasy is sort of a game which expects the reader to play with full sincerity and involves the reader so much that for a moment the reader starts accepting all the rules of this game and if you win the game, it provides an unexpected gift, which according to Manlove (1975) is named as “Wonders”.
Similarly, another perspective of “true fantasy” by is represented through Alice in wonder land and the “internally consistent mode favoured by Macdonald or Tolkien is classed as fairytale” (Rabkin, as cited in Attebery, 1980, p. 4). Further to this definition, Attebery (1980), relates fantasy to fiction by saying that the characteristics present in any fantasy tale is similar or contains same ideas as a fiction i.e. these tales generate suspense by showing characters which interest us, stories which appeal to our mind, by reading fantasy we explore the impossible and unknown (Attebery, 1980).
Lewis’s (1961), fictions are all fantasy and mostly rely on the archaeology or ancient Mediterranean cultures. To name a few of his fictions, The Chronicles of Narnia which shows an imaginary world, the perelandra trilogy, which shows settings on Mars and his versions of Myth of Psyche, all have something in common, but he uses a different sort of fantasy in his work. As Attebery (1980), also supports this idea by saying that Lewis’s fictions rely on psychological based ideas or on archaeological ideas. He also states that Lewis’s (1961), Narnia stories are a form of Fairy tales reworking to represent the Biblical accounts of creation as well as Apocalypse based ideas.
In addition to all the theories and definitions provided above, it would also be useful to look at some internet based definitions to analyse the difference. The Encyclopaedia Britannica Company (2011), defines fantasy as an “imaginative fiction featuring especially strange settings and grotesque characters”. The process of creating unrealistic or impossible mental images according to one’s mental state.
The Oxford Dictionaries (2011), states that fantasy is “a fanciful mental image typically one on which a person often dwells and which reflects their conscious or unconscious wishes”.
According to Melcher (2008-2011), fantasy is an unnatural thought of elves and orcs, fairies, magical world, vampires, fairytales bringing up images of heroic facts and epic journey.
Lastly, Le Guin (1980), describes fantasy as a journey which is a “into the subconscious mind, just as psychoanalysis”.
Precisely, it is clear that all the definitions and explanations above, reach the same conclusion by representing the same idea of the word or genre of fantasy. Being unrealistic and presenting unrealistic ideas coming from our subconscious, thinking of characters which do not exist and giving human attributes to objects, which is all impossible to happen but is certainly interesting to think about, are the main features of the word ‘fantasy’.
References:
An Encyclopaedia Britannica Company. (2011). Fantasy. Retrieved August 3, 2011, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fantasy
Attebery, B. (1980). Locating Fantasy. In The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guinn (pp.2-9). Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1980.
Froster, M. (1927). Aspects of the Novel. New York: Brace and World Inc.
Irwin, R. (1975). The Game of the Impossible: A Rhetoric of Fantasy. Urban: University of Illinois Press.
Le Guin, U. (1980). The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction. Ed. Susan Wood. New York: Perigee Trade.
Lewis, S. (1961). An Experiement in Criticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Manlove, N. (1975). Modern Fantasy: Five Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Melcher, K. (2008-2011).Defining the Genre: Fantasy. Retrieved August 3, 2011 from http://fandomania.com/defining-the-genre-fantasy/
Oxfords Dictionaries. (2011). Fantasy. Retrieved August 4, 2011, from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fantasy
I agree with this post. I personally prefer the definition of Froster (1927, p.108) when he says that authors ask their readers to “pay something extra”. This is so true, and the reason why some people cannot read fantasy for the reader must fully engage or the concept cannot work. It is very different to opening a regular fiction/non-fiction book which plays by the rules. These stories require faith from the reader that the world they are entering is fully realised enough to maintain the illusion for the duration of the story. It also requires faith on behalf of the writer that the reader will stay long enough to read through complex backstories and descriptions (in the case of high fiction). Something a little extra must be paid, besides that of imagination.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the definition does not stop there. Fantasy has been broken down again and again, into sub-genres such as Science Fiction and Escape Fiction but I believe that this is semantics. Fantasy as a genre can be defined in a nuthell by the following quote from Attebery (1980, p.3), “any narrative which includes as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the culture clearly believes to be natural law". The rest are just ways of defining a genre within a genre.
Attebery, B. (1980). Locating Fantasy. In The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guinn (pp.2-9). Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1980.
ReplyDeleteFroster, M. (1927). Aspects of the Novel. New York: Brace and World Inc.
From the readings we have done this week and from my own interpretation fantasy is the imagining of the impossible. Where there is a world / worlds where the impossible is possible.Fantasy is a form of escapism where your imagination can be real. As Aafia and Helen have both said that there is a the need to pay something extra. For you to be fully involved within the story you need to be able to connect and believe that that world could function.
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation about “extra things” is that the readers go through the improbable secondary world (it may differ to different readers) with their own imagination to explore the narrative. Their imaginations will lead them to follow that world rules to create personalized characters, experience the adventures and enjoy the “wonders”. Therefore, it’s more like the writer built up the platform of the game, and reader follow the hint which form the writing while they visualizing the story.
ReplyDeleteYou gave a very distinct and lengthy description of Fantasy's definition by Attebery supported by Froster, Lewis and others. Actually, Fantasy has a common genre of being unreal, only having the existence in imaginary world and having the characters created by the unrealistic ideas in the subconscious mind of the authors at the time of their writing.
ReplyDelete