Bestselling novels by Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and a multitude of others have enchanted us by blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Their genre of writing has been variously defined as 'magic', 'magical' or 'marvellous' realism and is quickly becoming a core area of literary studies. This guide offers a first step for those wishing to consider this area in greater depth, by:exploring the many definitions and terms used in relation to the genretracing the or...
The complete collection of Tolkien's essays, including two on Beowulf, which span three decades beginning six years before The Hobbit to five years after The Lord of the Rings. The seven essays by J.R.R. Tolkien assembled in this edition were with one exception delivered as general lectures on particular occasions; and while they mostly arose out of Tolkien's work in medieval literature, they are accessible to all. Two of them are concerned with Beowulf, including the well-known lectur...
A Literary Symbiosis studies the merger of science fiction/fantasy and mystery fiction from historical and critical perspectives. Pierce examines the problems and expectations raised by the various literary labels, particularly as regards definition, theme, conventions, stock characters, and setting. While she admits the difficulties inherent in merging idea-oriented, speculative science fiction with the situation-specific and present-time oriented mystery story, she argues that the two genres h...
The Lord of the Rings and the Western Narrative Tradition
by Martin Simonson
Wherever vampires existed in the imaginations of different peoples, they adapted themselves to the customs of the local culture. As a result, vampire lore is extremely diverse. So too, representations of the vampire in creative works have been marked by much originality. In The Vampyre (1819), John Polidori introduced Lord Ruthven and established the vampire craze of the 19th century that resulted in a flood of German vampire poetry, French vampire drama, and British vampire fiction. This tradit...
Flatland - A Romance of Many Dimensions (the Distinguished Chiron Edition)
by Edwin Abbott
This essential reference book details everything the novice needs to know about the genre and everything the well-read fan is calling out for. Lavishly illustrated and expertly informed, it is edited by Tim Dedopulos and David Pringle, editor and co-founder of the internationally acclaimed Interzone magazine, and features forewords by legendary authors Terry Pratchett and Ben Aaronovitch. They have assembled a team of expert contributors to compile a visually stunning, informative and fascinatin...
Shakespeare and Science Fiction (Liverpool Science Fiction Texts & Studies, #71)
by Sarah Annes Brown
In Shakespeare and Science Fiction Sarah Annes Brown investigates why so many science fiction writers have turned to Shakespeare when imagining humanity's future. He and his works become a kind of touchstone for the species in much science fiction, both transcending and exemplifying what it means to be human. Writers have used Shakespeare in a range of often contradictory ways. He is associated with freedom and with tyranny, with optimistic visions of space exploration and with the complete dest...
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines (Historical Guides to the World's Periodicals and Newspapers)
by Mike Ashley and Marshall B. Tymn
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century
by William H Patterson
A Cultural History of Fairy Tales (The Cultural Histories)
How have the fairy tales of different cultures changed over the centuries? What do they tell us about our fears and hopes? In a work that spans 2,500 years these ambitious questions are addressed by over 50 experts, each contributing their overview of a theme applied to a period in history. With the help of a broad range of case material they illustrate broad trends and nuances of the fairy tale in Western culture from antiquity to the present. Individual volume editors ensure the cohesion of t...
Archaeologists and anthropologists discover other civilizations; science fiction writers invent them. In this collection of her major essays, Marleen Barr argues that feminist science fiction writers contribute to postmodern literary canons with radical alternatives to mainstream patriarchal society. Because feminist science fiction challenges male-centered social imperatives, it has been marginalized and dismissed from the canon--thus, lost in space. Moving beyond feminist science fiction...
With Both Feet on the Clouds: Fantasy in Israeli Literature (Israel: Society, Culture, and History)