Monday, July 30, 2012

How does Atterbery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least five definitions


How does Atterbery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least five definitions. 

Attebery looks at others definitions of fantasy but ultimately sums it up as

“The single condition, that a story treat an impossibility as if it were true” (Attebery, 1980)

Other definitions:
W.R. Irwin “an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility... Whatever the material, extravagant or seemingly commonplace, a narrative is a fantasy if it presents the persuasive establishment and development of an impossibility, an arbitrary construct of the mind with all under the control of logic and rhetoric”. (Irwin as cited by Attebery, 1980)

J. R. R. Tolkien “founded upon the hard recognition that things are so in the world as it appears under the sun; on a recognition of fact but not a slavery to it”. (Tolkien as cited by Attebery, 1980)

Any narrative which includes as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law. (Attebery, 1980)

Tzvetan Todorov “The fantastic... That hesitation experienced by a person who knows the laws of nature, confronting an apparently supernatural event” (Todorov as cited by Attebery, 1980)

References
Attebery, B. (1980). The Fantasy of Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.






1 comment:

  1. Good Alex, shows a clear understanding of the secondary text. Would you add anything of your own to these definition? For example, do all fantasies involve a quest?

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