1. How has fantasy as a genre been defined?

2. Find at least five formative definitions in Attebery (1980).

3. According to Attebery, Can the genre legitimately be defined by examples?

4. How do English and American
constructions of fantasy diverge, according to Attebery?

5. How is science fiction different from
fantasy, according to Le Guinn (http://www.ursulakleguin.com/ PlausibilityinFantasy.html)?

6. Can you identify any common fantasy meta-narratives from your own reading/viewing? What
are some archetypes (e.g. common character types)of fantasy fiction?

7. Note while you are
reading A Wizard of Earthsea Le Guinn’s depiction of race and gender. Is there anything
surprising in this? Why?

8. In what ways does Tax (2002) suggest Earthsea may still be relevant today?

Okay question one...fantasy as a genre to me is similar to non-fiction. However, the pictures of having extreme characters and all, separates fantasy from non-fiction. Put it like this, imaginary animals who can instantly evolve from one thing to another and characters like princesses who have other princes to rescue them from a dangerous dragon of some sort...now that wold be fantasy. Any thoughts? disagree if you want. I just want to answer the question so we can elaborate as a group.

According to Artebery (1980), books that would count as a fantasy genre would be Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' Lewis' Narnia and so forth...but anyways, in Artebery's (1980) extract it says that "W.R Irwin has pointed out that the primary feature, without which a work simply cannot be fantasy is an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibilty". Well, how I interpreted this quote went like this...Fantasy cannot be fantasy if the storyliine was adapted from a real life experience or if the story will occur in the future. Nor will the characters be in existence. Fantasy stories were fantasized by the author, in which they wish that the world they imagined was in existence. That would be one of MY definitions that I picked up from the Artebery (1980) extract.

okay guys...you might get bored of seeing me only on this, but I'm suspecting that there's five parts to this question since Paul asked for at least five different definitions. I've found one, this is the second one but I'll leave the last three for you guys to look at...hehe, this is the second definition that I found:

Characters of a fantasy genre are straightforward impossible characters, objects or events. If we compare this to science-fiction, Artebery (1980), says that the author spends too much time convincing the audience that the world they are explaining are in fact non-fiction..."By being demanding and straightforward treatment of impossible characters, objects or events we can distinguish between fantasy and related genres. (Artebery, 1980)

Hey guys just wanted to comment on the first question, which by the way this question is asking what we think of how fantasy can be defined personally right?

I like how Annie definition of Fantasy, I agree with her example.
In my own opinion I think that fantasy is a type of genre that looks at the Creativity of human minds or in other words what seems to be unbelievable can be believable in written genres otherwise. Like Annie suggested it’s more like using your imagination. If we look at Annie’s example, nonfiction and fantasy are two different genres but both share one thing in common that is the use of unrealistic. I like to think that Fantasy can be defined as expanding your creative mind. I don’t what do you guys think!!???

That is true...it's the fact that both genres of fantasy and non-fiction have that unrealistic thing in common. It's just a matter of reading the text really and figuring out which one out of the texts is beating around the bush and which one is straight forward. I hate this, because then you will HAVE TO read the text to find out! ahahaha :D

Question 2

Hi Annie & everyone,

Here’re another 3 formative definitions of fantasy that I found in Attebery’s article. Firstly, unlike science fiction, fantasy requires the writer to construct it with consistency. According to Attebery, both the writer and reader need to be “committed to maintaining the illusion for the entire course of the fiction” (Attebery, 1980, p. 3). “Secondary belief” is the reference made by Tolkien and E. M. Forster addresses that fantasy reader is expected to “pay something extra” not only to accept “the conventions of fiction but also implausibilities within those conventions” (Attebery, 1980, p. 3). The reward for the extra payment is a rare sense of unexpected beauty and weirdness which C. N. Manlove calls “wonders”. And in order to gain such reward from reading a fantasy, the reader must whole-heartedly accept all rules and turns of the fiction. Secondly, another definition of fantasy that separates it from other genres is the ability to invoke wonder by turning “the impossible seem familiar and the familiar seem new and strange” (Attebery, 1980, p. 4). The example that Attebery used in the article was that when a unicorn was placed in a garden, it achieves solidity and the garden takes on charm. And fantasy also use many different ways to engage a reader’s attention such as: “by generating suspense, by presenting characters whose fates we are interested in, by appealing to our senses, by calling forth human longings and fears” (Attebery, 1980, p. 4). Moreover, a good fantasy can engage the readers intellectually and morally by introducing the conflict of ideas and issues in plain and solid form. This is on of the most significant achievements that fantasy can aim, “to give comprehensible form to life, death, good, and evil” (Attebery, 1980, p. 4). Fantasy can also simplify philosophical and moral clashes, personifying them in story lines which might not be straightforwardly related to the readers’ own intricate and cloudy lives but which can give pleasure to or inspire because of their open and evident design.

Hope it makes sense for all of you to read.

Alby ^_^

Question 8

Hi All,

Here’s a possible suggestion in the article by Tax (2002) regarding how Earthsea may still be relevant to today’s society, the inequality of genders. As mentioned by Tax, we are still much living in a world where women, like in Le Guin’s Earthsea series, only have a limited numbers of very minor roles. For example, “absent beloved, evil witch, damsel in distress and girl warrior” Tax (2002, p. 13). Females are often portrayed either as weak individuals that require the protection from the ‘strong arms’ of their male counterparts or simply they are pictured as negative evil characters (evil witch). In Tax’s opinion, Le Guin’s books have painted a symbolic picture of today’s society; we are caught midway in our evolution as social beings who are still attempting to wrestle our way out of the pond and onto the land, “no longer tadpoles and not yet frogs” Tax (2002, p. 14). There is no mature commanding leadership of any kind and no pure source of male power.

Any other possible suggestion that you can find from reading Tax’s article? Please share & comment on mine, thanks.

Alby ^_^

Also according to Maria Nikolajeva the difference between science fiction and fantasy is that they both arise from different origins. Fantasy is more a product of modern times than science fiction is. Although in the last decade science fiction would have been considered to be a product of modern times, that is until such as fanstasy as Harry Potter, Narnia came to life.

To me fantasy is like a story created in a different world to that which we normally live in. Fantasy is said to come from the mythology of ancient civilisation existing where worlds are built upon those myths. And in most fantasy genres the stories consist of quests, heroes, adventures, magic, gods and mythical creatures. That is what I would describe fantasy as.

hi guys

I like you guys definitions both annie and shorty and this is my answer to question one.

Fantasy literature is typically set in nonexistent realms and features supernatural beings. Notable examples of literature with elements of fantasy are Gabriel Gárcia Márquez's story "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" and Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas."
(http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ssfs_0000_0023_0/ssfs_0000_0023_0_00026.html)