Fantasists on Fantasy by Robert H. Boyer


Fantasists on Fantasy
Title : Fantasists on Fantasy
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 038086553X
ISBN-10 : 9780380865536
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 287
Publication : First published February 1, 1984

Eighteen of the finest fantasy writers share the secrets of their craft in essays, excerpts, and letters. Candid, controversial, often highly personal, here is a unique glimpse into the author's singular imagination, as the real experts in the field explore the theory, technique, and aesthetics of fantasy literature." Contents include: Intro / The Fantastic Imagination by George Mac Donald / Fairy Tales by K. Chesterton / Intro to "Supernatural Horror in Literature" by H. P. Lovecraft / Fantasy (Fancy) by Sir Herbert Read / The Wizard of Chitenango by James Thurber / Tempest in a Looking Glass by James Thurber / Fantasy by J. R. R. Tolkien / "To W. H. Auden" by J. R. R. Tolkien / The Fantastic Story by August Derleth / Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What's to Be Said by C. S. Lewis / Tell Me a Story by Felix Marti-Ibanez / Tolkien's Magic Ring by Peter S. Beagle / Wishful Thinking - or Hopeful Dreaming? by Lloyd Alexander / On Writing Fantasy by Andre Norton / The Weak Place in the Cloth by Jane Langton / Dreams Must Explain Themselves by Ursula K. Le Guin / From Elfland to Poughkeepsie by Ursula K. Le Guin / One World by Mollie Hunter / Interview Essay - Katherine Kurtz / Wit and Humour in Fantasy by Michael Moorcock / Escaping into Ourselves by Susan Cooper

Fantasists on Fantasy Reviews

  • Mike

    On my second attempt, I got further than the first time - it's unfortunate that it's in chronological order, so the very dullest, most overwritten essays are at the front. But even once I got to the good stuff around Lewis and Tolkien, it didn't grab me enough to read all the way through.

  • Rupert Owen

    Fascinating and unpretentious discourse on Fantasy Fiction by the writers who write it. I used it as reference material for a critical study I was working on as it contained material written by authors who were pathing the way for modern fantasy. I wouldn't say it is comprehensive but it certainly covers enough ground as a taster reference. Nice to see Moorcock included.

  • Heather Demetrios

    My friends, if you are a fantasy writer this is a must read! This essay collection is absolutely fantastic! So, so helpful. And if you love fantasy and are academically minded, you will enjoy it, as well. It really gets into what fantasy is, what it does to us as readers, and how individual works in the genre build on one another. A gem!