The A to Z of Fantasy Literature
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John Fowles’s Gravesian Mantissa (1982), Penelope Farmer’s Year King, and Lindsay Clarke’s Alice’s Masque.
FRENCH FANTASY. The origins of French vernacular literature lie in the “courtly romances” of the 12th century, which dutifully reflected the chivalric delusions of the aristocratic patrons, who paid for their preservation in manuscript. In the 13th century, verse romances were supplemented, and eventually supplanted, by prose. The recording of folktales by chroniclers began in the same period, although it was not until the late 17th century that their substance was transfigured by Madame d’Aulnoy and Charles Perrault. Their influence at court facilitated the extrapolation of an 18th-century genre of erotic and satirical fantaisies featuring fairies and other supernatural beings, especially borrowings from Antoine Galland’s enormously popular Arabian Nights; notable examples include such works as Augustin-Paradis de Moncrif’s The Adventures of Zeloide and Amanzarifdine (1715; tr.
1929), Claude-Prosper Crébillon fils’ The Sofa (1740; tr. 1741), Jean-Galli de Bibiena’s The Fairy Doll (1744; tr. 1925), Jacques Cazotte’s The Devil in Love, and Anthony Hamilton’s precursors to Voltaire’s
contes philosophiques.
Charles Nodier, who identified an emergent French school of Gothic fiction as “l’école frénétique” [frenetic school], and Théophile Gautier were the leading fantastists of the French Romantic movement, while Honoré de Balzac moved on from early frenetic novels to the “philosophical studies” element of his human comedy. The frequent ambiguity of freneticism—which eschewed explicit fantasy in the work of such influential practitioners as Victor Hugo and Jules Janin—paved the way for the development of a distinctively French genre of the fantastique.
This tendency to ambiguity accompanied the frenetic school as it was imported into the popular fiction by Eugéne Sue, Frédéric Soulié,
Alexandre Dumas, and Paul Féval that reached unprecedentedly vast audiences as newspaper serials. Shorter fiction remained more hospitable to explicit fantasy, however, in the works of such writers as Erckmann-Chatrian.
In the mid-19th century, Charles Baudelaire interpreted the decline of the Romantic worldview as a reflection of a more general decadence, reflected in such literary ornamentation as elaborate symbolism—a trend carried forward by Villiers de l’Isle Adam, Catulle Mendès, Marcel Schwob, Rémy de Gourmont, Pierre Louÿs, Jean Lorrain, and Maurice Maeterlinck. Jules Laforgue’s Moral Tales (1887; tr. 1928),
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which transfigured erotic fantasies drawn from myth, legend, and literature in a flamboyantly parodic fashion, provided a bridge to the surrealism of Alfred Jarry and Guillaume Apollinaire, while Jules Lemaître, whose short fiction is sampled in Serenus and Other Stories (1886; tr.1920) and On the Margins of Old Books (1905; tr. 1929), carried forward a trend in playful metafiction. Baudelaire and Gustave Flaubert also instituted a rich tradition of French literary satanism, whose ambitions flourished in the work of Anatole France.
Surrealism encouraged the cultivation of a kind of ambiguity more
confused, and hence more flexible, than that of fantastique horror fiction, which was carried forward into the existentialist era by such writers as Raymond Roussel, in Locus Solus (1914; tr. 1970); Julien Gracq, author of the influential allegory The Castle of Argol (1938; tr. 1951); Maurice Sandoz, author of Fantastic Memories (1944; tr. 1957); and Maurice Druon, author of the fairy tale Tistou of the Green Thumbs (1957; tr. 1958) and the classical fantasy The Memoirs of Zeus (tr.
1964). This ambiguity extended into the work of Jean Cocteau, Boris Vian, Marcel Aymé, and Michel Tournier. It became perfectly possible for phantasmagorical works like Michel Bernanos’s possibly
posthumous fantasy The Other Side of the Mountain (1967; tr. 1968) to retain a crucial ambiguity that defies definite classification.
Although the horrific aspects of the fantastique thrived in the second half of the 20th century—as outlined in Marcel Schneider’s Histoire de la Littérature Fantastique en France (1964) and Jean-Baptiste Baron-ian’s Panorama de la Littérature Fantastique de la Langue Française (1978) and showcased by such editors as Alain Doremieux, Daniel Conrad, and Benoit Domis—French fantaisie only began to revive in the popular marketplace when the sudden explosion of American genre fantasy provided a new set of exemplars. The greatest resurgence of interest was in historical fantasy, often with a domestic setting but including such conscientious exotica as Christian Jacq’s accounts of ancient Egypt.
By 1990, French popular fantasy and French literary fantasy had begun a process of cross-fertilization that promised a considerable increase in variety and ambition. Notable recent examples that have been translated include Marc Behm’s Afraid to Death (1991; tr. 2000), Jacqueline Harpman’s Orlanda (1996; tr. 1999), Marie Darrieussecq’s My Phantom Husband (1998; tr. 1999), Daniel Arsand’s The Land of Darkness (1998; tr. 2001), Erik L’Homme’s Quadehar the Sorcerer
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(2002; tr. 2003), Flavia Bujor’s The Prophecy of the Gems (2002; tr.
2004; aka The Prophecy of the Stones), and Hervé Jubert’s Dance of the Assassins (2002; tr. 2004). Significant genre writers who have not yet been translated include Michel Pagel, Pierre Grimbert, Rachel Tanner, Xavier Mauméjean, Fabrice Anfosso, Michel Robert, Jean-Louis Fet-jaine, Mathieu Gaborit, and Léa Silhol. New magazines wholly or partly devoted to fantasy fiction include Faeries (founded 2000) and Aspho-dale (founded 2002).
FRIESNER, ESTHER M. (1951– ). U.S. writer. The Arabian fantasy series comprising Mustapha and His Wise Dog (1985), Spells of Mortal Weaving (1986), The Witchwood Cradle (1987), and The Water King’s Laughter (1989) is lightheartedly stereotypical, but her work became more distinctive as she developed a more extravagant kind of humorous fantasy in the urban fantasy trilogy New York by Knight (1986), Elf Defence (1988), and Sphynxes Wild (1989). The comedy became gradually more extravagant in three further trilogies, one comprising Here be Demons (1988), Demon Blues (1989), and Hooray for Helly-wood (1999); one Gnome Man’s Land (1991), Harpy High (1991), and Unicorn U (1992); and the third Majyk by Accident (1993), Majyk by Hook or Crook (1994), and Majyk by Design (1994).
Friesner’s other works include the quest fantasies Harlot’s Ruse (1986) and The Silver Mountain (1986); the alternative history fantasies Druid’s Blood (1988), Yesterday We Saw Mermaids (1991), Child of the Eagle (1996), and the couplet comprising The Psalms of Herod (1995) and The Sword of Mary (1996); and the wish-fulfillment fantasy The Wishing Season (1993; exp. 1996). She collaborated with Lawrence Watt-Evans on Split Heirs (1993) and Robert Asprin on E.godz (2003). Her short fiction is sampled in Up the Wall and Other Stories (2000) and Death and the Librarian and Other Stories (2002).
Her anthologies of humorous fantasy include Alien Pregnant by Elvis (1994; with Martin H. Greenberg); Blood Muse (1995; with Greenberg), featuring “vampires in the Arts”; and the series comprising Chicks in Chainmail (1995), Did You Say Chicks? (1998), Chicks ’n’ Chained Males (1999), The Chick Is in the Mail (2000), and Turn the Other Chick (2004), which refuse to take amazons seriously.
FRITH, NIGEL (1941– ). British writer whose fantasies recycle myths from various sources; the Hindu myth–based The Legend of Krishna (1975; aka Krishna) and the Nordic The Spear of Mistletoe (1977; aka
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Asgard) do so straightforwardly, but the trilogy comprising Jor-mundgand (1986), Dragon (1987), and Olympiad (1988) is more syncretically and transfiguratively ambitious. Snow (1993) is a contemporary/ghost story.
FUNKE, CORNELIA (1958– ). German writer for children. The Thief Lord (2000; tr. 2002) makes marginal use of a time-shifting carousel. In the more ambitious Inkheart (2003), which follows in the footsteps of Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story, characters come to life as the protagonist reads a book aloud—including the villainous Capricorn. In The Dragon Rider (2004), the young dragon Firedrake is warned that humans are planning to destroy
his homeland and seeks refuge beyond the Rim of Heaven.
FUREY, MAGGIE (1955– ). British writer. The series comprising Aurian (1994), Harp of Winds (1994), The Sword of Flame (1995), and Dhi-ammara (1997) is a feminized/epic fantasy whose heroine makes gradual progress toward self-actualization as an immortal wielder of magic.
The Shadowleague series, comprising The Heart of Myrial (1998), The Spirit of the Stone (2001), and The Eye of Eternity (2002; aka Echo of Eternity), is set in a world divided by Curtain Walls.
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GAARDER, JOSTEIN (1952– ). Norwegian philosopher and writer of challenging sentimental fantasies for children. The Frog Castle (1988; tr. 1999) is a transfiguration/fairy tale The Solitaire Mystery (1990; tr.
1996) is an elaborate quest fantasy involving symbolic playing cards.
Sophie’s World (1991; tr. 1994) is an ambitious exercise in didacticism that embeds a synoptic history of philosophy within a metafiction stocked with characters from legend and literature; it became an international best seller. In Through a Glass Darkly (1993; tr. 1996), a terminally ill girl discusses her prospects with an angel. In The Christmas Mystery (1992; tr. 1996), the story revealed by an Advent calendar prompts a timeslip to Bethlehem. Maya (1999; tr. 2000) is a complex metafictional mystery in which the Joker steps out of a deck of cards. In The Ringmaster’s Daughter (2001; tr. 2002), a boy with a rich imagination grows up to be a ghostwriter and hoaxer. In The Orange Girl (2003; tr. 2004), a posthumous letter describes a curious quest.
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GABALDON, DIANA (1952– ). U.S. writer of historical fiction who edged into fantasy in a best-selling timeslip romance series pairing an 18th-century Scotsman with a 20th-century wife: Outlander (1991; aka Cross Stitch), Dragonfly in Amber (1992), Voyager (1993), The Drums of Autumn (1996), and The Fiery Cross (2001). The last-named expands its scope to take in the American War of Independence. The Outlandish Companion (1999) is a guide.
GAIMAN, NEIL (1960– ). British writer whose early work was in the comic-book medium, very successful in the graphic novel format. He worked on Violent Cases (1987) and Outrageous Tales of the Old Testament (1987) before redesigning two old superheroes, Black Orchid (1988–89) and The Sandman (1989–96; reprinted in 10 vols.); the 75 issues of the latter project converted the eponymous character into the personalization of Dream, supplementing him with a set of allegorical siblings (Destiny, Destruction, Despair, Desire, Delirium, and Death) whose exploits extended into text in the anthology The Sandman: Book of Dreams (1996) and the Oriental fantasy novella The Dream Hunters (1999) and further graphic novels like The Sandman: Endless Nights (2003).
Gaiman wrote an apocalyptic fantasy in collaboration with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (1990), and some short fiction—including items collected in Angels & Visitations: A Miscellany (1993; exp. 1998 as Smoke and Mirrors)—before switching his major effort into the text medium. Nev-erwhere (1996), the novelization of a TV serial, became a U.S. best seller, preparing the way for Stardust (1998), a sophisticated fairy tale fantasy cast in the archaic mold of Hope Mirrlees and Lord Dunsany.
American Gods (2001) cleverly elaborates the notion that gods are created and sustained by worship. The dark/portal fantasy Coraline (2002) takes its heroine to the world of her “other mother” (the wicked stepmother of fairy tales). Snow Glass Apples (2002) is a play based on a Snow White transfiguration. Further short fiction is collected in Adventures in the Dream Trade (2002). The Wolves in the Walls (2003) is a scary picture book.
GALLAND, ANTOINE (1646–1715). French Islamist who collected manuscripts while a member of a French diplomatic mission to the Levant in 1670–75. In 1692, he became assistant to Barthélemy d’Herbelot on the Bilbliothèque orientale, an encyclopedia of Islamic culture, and
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brought it to completion in 1697, two years after d’Herbelot’s death. Its samples of folklore were praised by Charles Perrault and became a useful source for fanciful literateurs. Galland followed it up with a translation of the tale of Sinbad the Sailor (1701), which he subsequently integrated into his translation (12 vols., 1704–16) of a collection known in English as The Arabian Nights or The Thousand and One Nights. This phenomenally successful and highly influential work became the source book for the subgenre of Arabian fantasy.
Galland’s collection (sometimes augmented and routinely transfigured by other hands) was translated into other languages long before any translations were made directly from Arabic. Because several of the tales in Galland—including those of Aladdin and Ali Baba—appear to have no prior manuscript sources, he is suspected of having made them up. Most of the pastiches that followed in some profusion are entirely fake; they include François Pétis la Croix’s collection of Persian tales (1712; tr. 1714) and three collections by Thomas-Simon Gueulette—
Chinese Tales (1725), Tartarian Tales (1730; tr. 1759; aka The Thousand and One Quarters of an Hour), and Mogul Tales (1736). The author of The Tales of the Genii (1765), an untraveled clergyman named James Ridley, poses as “Charles Morell,” British ambassador to the Mogul empire. Galland’s model was more freely adapted in Jan Potocki’s sprawling Manuscript Found in Saragossa (partial pub. 1813–14 in French; 1847 in Polish; full English tr. 1995), Captain Marryat’s The Pacha of Many Tales, Paul Féval’s Knightshade, and Robert Irwin’s The Arabian Nightmare.
GAMES. Many games involve an element of psychological fantasy; the
“let’s pretend” element of collective play is often formalized in rule-bound games, including card games and board games, and such games
are often transfigured in fantasy fiction, as in Lewis Carroll’s Alice books and Dahlov Ipcar’s The Warlock of Night. A reverse transfiguration was achieved in the 1970s, when the apparatus of literary fantasy was adapted into Gary Gygax’s hugely successful role-playing game
(RPG) Dungeons and Dragons (launched 1974; advanced version 1978). D&D is formulated as a quest undertaken by a company of characters—each of which is managed and developed by a player—follow-
ing an obstacle course devised by a “dungeon master” whose negotiation is arbitrated by dice. The apparatus provided for dungeon masters was plundered wholesale from sword and sorcery fiction and the works
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of J. R. R. Tolkien, compounded into a syncretic mass whose substance was rapidly reexported into the fantasyland of commodified fantasy.
The range of literary plunder was broadened by rival game designers, notably Chaosium, which followed up the Michael Moorcock–influenced RuneQuest (launched 1978) with scenarios adapted from the work of H. P. Lovecraft ( Call of Cthulhu, 1981) and the Arthurian RPG Pendragon (1984).
The boom in RPGs prompted the development of books that were, in
effect, game scenarios, in which the reader-as-character negotiated a way through a maze of options in the hope of discovering a satisfactory conclusion. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (1982), by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, launched a highly successful and much-imitated Fighting Fantasy series in Britain, the profits being ploughed into Games Workshop, a company with early products that included the RPG
Warhammer (launched 1986). By this time, the owners of D&D had launched a best-selling series of tie-in novels reexporting their game scenarios into the text medium, a campaign spearheaded by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s DragonLance Chronicles (launched 1984).
A career path opened up for writers who had begun their careers as game designers or specialist tie-in writers to diversify their exploits in commodified fantasy; those who followed it include Raymond E. Feist, R.
A. Salvatore, Rose Estes, Ed Greenwood, Michael A. Stackpole, and Thomas Harlan.
Jackson and Livingstone eventually sold Games Workshop to Citadel
Miniatures, a company that made plastic models used to represent characters. In order to enhance their core business, that company switched most of its effort from RPGs to war ga
mes, which required whole
armies of figures; Warhammer Fantasy Battle displaced the RPG and was supplemented by the futuristic Warhammer 40,000 as Games Workshop globalized its operations. U.S. companies discovered another merchandising route when they devised RPGs that used customized playing cards instead of dice as arbiters of success; early examples included Amber (based on Roger Zelazny’s series) and Everway, but the first great success of this new form was White Wolf’s Vampire: The Masquerade (1991). It was followed by Magic: The Gathering (1993); the commercial triumph of that game—boosted by the ploy of producing some of the vital playing cards in such small quantities that they become valuable collectors’ items—eventually allowed its producers, Wizards of the Coast, to take over TSR, the owners of D&D, which had had a meteoric
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career. U.S.-produced products of this kind were, however, outdone in marketing terms by a Japanese import, the child-oriented Pokémon cards; Wizards of the Coast were taken over in their turn—by Hasbro—
in 1999.
Computers were first used as venues for fantasy-based games in