Theoretical and critical tendencies in fantasy literature:
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35921/jangada.v1i18.383Keywords:
Brian Attebery, Fantasy literature, Farah Mendlesohn, Literary theory, J. R. R. TolkienAbstract
This research discusses the postulates about fantasy literature proposed by the scholars J. R. R. Tolkien, Brian Attebery, and Farah Mendlesohn. It deals mainly with the essay “On Fairy Stories”, by Tolkien, and the works Strategies of Fantasy, by Attebery, and Rhetorics of Fantasy, by Mendlesohn. Starting from the discussion of the central elements of these productions, it is proposed that the changes in the way in which fantasy as a literary genre presents itself, in different historical-geographic moments, are related to the social demands of the context of the works. It is argued that new theories tend to emerge to accompany such changes and offer theoretical-critical tools that cover the genre in its various aspects and that enable more plural approaches to fantasy. The study begins with a discussion of how Tolkien's essay and his novel The Lord of the Rings played a central role in popularizing fantasy and establishing a model for the genre. Then, Attebery's theory is discussed, which proposes that the fantasy genre can be seen as a fuzzy-set. It concludes with an analysis of Mendlesohn's theory, which proposes that different fantasy texts can be studied from the way in which the fantastic appears in the narrative.
References
ATTEBERY, Brian. Stories about stories. New York: Oxford, 2014.
______. Strategies of Fantasy. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1992.
BOOTH, Wayne C. A Rhetoric of Irony. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press,1975
CARPENTER, Humphrey. J. R. R. Tolkien: a biography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
CLUTE, John; GRANT, John. The encyclopedia of fantasy. London: Orbit, 1996.
FLIEGER, Verlyn. There would always be a fairy tale: more essays on Tolkien. Kent: Kent UP, 2017.
GAIMAN, Neil. The Ocean at the Endo f the Lane. New York: Harper Collins, 2013.
JAMES, Edward; MENDLESOHN, Farah (Ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature. New York, U.S.A.: Cambridge, 2012.
LAKOFF, George. JOHNSON, Mark. Metaphors we live by. Illinois: Chicago UP, 2003.
MENDLESOHN, Farah. Rhetorics of fantasy. Middletown: Wesleyan, 2008.
KYRMSE, Ronald. Explicando Tolkien. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2003.
ROTHFUSS, Patrick. The Name of the Wind. New York: DAW Books, 2007.
ROWLING, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic, 2013.
SHIPPEY, Tom. J.R. R. Tolkien: Author of the century. London: Harper Collins, 2001.
TOLKIEN, J. R.R. Tree and Leaf. London: Harper Collins, 2001.
TOMPKINS, Jane. Sensational Designs: the cultural work of American fiction 1790–1860. New York and Oxford: Oxford UP, 1985.
