Belief in magic was once thought by sophisticated philosophers to be the prerogative of primitive minds or peoples, and it was widely anticipated that the attainment of the Age of Reason and its subsequent Age of Enlightenment would lead to the extinction of magical belief in the civilized world. This assumption proved utterly mistaken; belief in the workability of magic is probably more widespread now than it has ever been before. Ironically, the most resistant enclave of stern scepticism is to be found among practitioners of stage magic, in which seemingly impossible accomplishments are simulated by ingenious trickery or sleight of hand. The remarkable sophistication of such trickery demonstrates the difficulty of judging the limits of practicality; charlatans desirous of persuading people that they have magical abilities have considerable deceptive resources available to them. It was also widely thought, once upon a time, that participation in fantasy literature implied or required belief in magic, but theorists have convincingly insisted, since the days of Edmund Burke and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, that the opposite is true: that fantasy’s literary effects depend on the fact that its producers and consumers—including young listeners—are fully conscious of the nature of the exercise.
The idea of magic has been strongly affected in Western civilization by the development of monotheistic religions that have taken a monopolistic
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view of violations of cause and effect, reserving benevolent effects to God (redefining them as “miracles”) while condemning all other magical endeavors to the category of “sorcery,” inherently demonic no matter what its intentions might be—an argument supported by the fantasies of
William Gilbert. Although many medieval Christian scholars took a keen interest in alchemy, astrology, and various forms of ritual magic, the persecution of lay practitioners became increasingly urgent during the great witch hunt of the 16th and 17th centuries, resulting in the development of an ideological “resistance movement”; its defensive tactics were incorporated into a tradition of scholarly fantasies that now serve fantasy literature as taproot texts.
Fantasy literature recycles all the kinds of magic anyone ever believed in and all the scholarly fantasies reinterpreting its nature. Different magical systems are often seen in conflict, such conflicts sometimes being underlaid by a fundamental contrast between ritualized and academicized magic, on the one hand, and “wild magic” on the
other, whose resistance to those kinds of discipline is wryly celebrated by such writers as Alan Garner and Dave Luckett. Innovative accounts of magical systems—sometimes embracing their metaphysical bases as well as their practical application—can be found in the works of Clive Barker, Leah R. Cutter, Ru Emerson, and J. V.
Jones.
MAGIC REALISM. A term transplanted from art criticism in the 1920s, initially to refer to the poetry of the Chilean Pablo Neruda; it was widely used in the latter half of the 20th century to characterize the works of other Latin American writers—most significantly and definitively Gabriel Garcia Márquez—and its use gradually became far more promiscuous, expanding its scope to take in all literary fantasy of a vaguely surreal nature.
When narrowly defined, the term usually refers to works that adopt a viewpoint in which everyday experience is routinely confused by events and entities reflecting culturally approved magical beliefs, which do not appear as intrusive “bringers of chaos”—however extraordinary or troublesome they may be—but as recognizable aspects of the tribulations of life. A magic realist text does not hybridize magical and rationally sanctioned beliefs in the manner of credulous occult fantasy or hybrid science fantasy but rather seems to deny or break down the very category of magic; for this reason, it is closely related to the category of liminal fantasy, identified by Farah Mendlesohn.
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This narrative technique is by no means new, but its application in Latin American texts does have a particular vigor and resonance. Its roots are detectable in stories by the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis, sampled in The Devil’s Church (1882–1905; tr. 1977) and in Massimo Bontempelli’s The Boy with Two Mothers (1929; tr. in Separations, 2000). Other paradigmatic examples include Jorge Amado’s Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1966; tr. 1969), Julio Cortazar’s 62: A Model Kit (1968; tr. 1972), and José Saramago’s Blindness (1997).
MAGUIRE, GREGORY (1955– ). U.S. writer. The Lightning Timer (1978), The Daughter of the Moon (1980), and Lights on the Lake (1981) are children’s contemporary fantasies set in the town of Canaan Lake.
The Dream Stealer (1983) transfigures a Russian folktale. His prequel to L. Frank Baum’s Oz series Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995) was adapted into a Broadway musical; it was followed by two other transfigurations for adults: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (1999), based on Cinderella, and Mirror Mirror (2003), a historical fantasy based on Snow White. Lost (2001) is a delusional ghost story. His later work for children includes the humorous Hamlet Chronicles, comprising Seven Spiders Spinning (1994), Six Haunted Hairdos (1997), Five Alien Elves (1999), Four Stupid Cupids (2000), Three Rotten Eggs (2002), and A Couple of April Fools (2004), in which school holidays bring forth various otherworldly visitors. Leaping Beauty and Other Animal Fairy Tales (2004) features more transfigurations.
MAHY, MARGARET (1936– ). New Zealand writer. Many of her stories for younger readers—of which the first was The Dragon of an Ordinary Family (1969)—are inventive fantasies; the most enterprising include those collected in Mahy Magic (1986; aka The Boy Who Bounced and Other Magic Tales) and The Girl with the Green Ear: Stories about Magic in Nature (1992), and the metafictional novella A Villain’s Night Out (1999). Her work for young adults ranges across a wide spectrum; including the thematically linked dark fantasies The Haunting (1982), The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance (1984), The Tricksters (1986), Dangerous Spaces (1991), and Alchemy (2002), in which supernaturally talented teenagers discover that they are heirs to various peculiar “curses” reflecting aspects of family dysfunction. Shick Forest and Other Stories (2004) samples her short fiction for older readers.
MANN, THOMAS (1875–1955). German writer whose use of symbolism imports fantastic imagery into the margins of some of his major
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works, notably “Death in Venice” (1913; tr. 1925) and The Magic Mountain (1924; tr. 1927). “Mario and the Magician” (1930) is a political allegory. The trilogy begun with Joseph and His Brothers (1933; tr. 1934; omnibus 1960) is a metafictional/biblical fantasy. The Transposed Heads (1940; tr. 1941) is an outright Oriental fantasy transfiguring an Indian legend. Doctor Faustus (1947; tr. 1948) is a sophisticated Faustian fantasy. The Holy Sinner (1951) features a terminal theriomorphic transformation.
MÄRCHEN. A German word, identical in the singular and the plural, signifying “tale” or “tales.” It is often used as a contraction of
volksmärchen (“folktale”) or, thanks to the Brothers Grimm, kinder-märchen (“children’s tale”). It has been widely adopted into English in the parlance of fantasy criticism by academics anxious to avoid the childish connotations of “fairy tales.” The portmanteau term kunstmärchen is also widespread in critical parlance; it is here translated as art fairy tale.
MARIE DE FRANCE. The signature attached to a series of Breton lays (narrative poems) and a number of fables written between 1160 and
1178, probably by an Anglo-Norman noblewoman associated with
Henry II’s court. The 12 lays are fantasized love stories, whose importance in the development of fantasy fiction—apart from being the work of the first significant female contributor to that tradition—is the range of their transfigurations, embracing the classical and contemporary Arthurian romance, sometimes in a spirit of hybridization. The most significant precedent was set by Sir Orfeo, which transfigures the story of Orpheus as a chivalric romance, although Bisclavret—which features a sympathetic werewolf—is generally regarded as her masterpiece.
Modern transfigurations of M
arie’s lays include works by Gillian Bradshaw and Sophie Masson.
MARILLIER, JULIET (?– ). New Zealand writer resident in Australia.
The Sevenwaters trilogy, comprising Daughter of the Forest (1999), Son of the Shadows (2000), and Child of the Prophecy (2001), is a sophisticated epic/Celtic fantasy in which druids are threatened by the advent of Christianity; the series exhibits a strong ecological consciousness, using the “fair folk” as censorious commentators on human folly. The Saga of the Light Isles series, launched by Wolfskin (2002) and Foxmask (2004), is set in the Orkneys, where the natives’ harmonious way of life is disrupted and spoiled by Nordic invaders.
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MARKS, LAURIE J. (1957– ). U.S. writer. The trilogy comprising Delan the Mislaid (1989), The Moonbane Mage (1990), and Ara’s Field (1991) makes interesting use of a quasi-angelic race in transfiguring and extrapolating Hans Christian Andersen’s fable of “The Ugly Duckling.” The Watcher’s Mask (1992) and Dancing Jack (1993) draw on the same psychological wellspring. The Elemental Logic series launched by Fire Logic (2002) and Earth Logic (2004) is set in a world in which personality is determined by mixtures of elemental influences.
MARRYAT, CAPTAIN (1792–1848). British writer best known for children’s fiction and naval romances. The Pacha of Many Tales (1835) sets a series of blithely picaresque adventures in a framework borrowed from Antoine Galland’s Arabian Nights; the fantastic items include tall stories improvised by the sailor Huckaback, a more ingenious liar than Sinbad. Snarleyvow; or, The Dog Fiend (1837) is a desupernaturalized parody of Gothic romance. The Phantom Ship (1839) is a graphic recycling of the legend of the Flying Dutchman in which a notable werewolf story is interpolated.
MARTIN, GEORGE R. R. (1948– ). U.S. writer whose early work was mostly sf (refer to HDSFL). Much of his short fantasy, including “The Ice Dragon” (1980) and “Remembering Melody” (1981), is ardently sentimental. Fevre Dream (1982) is a historical fantasy featuring southern Gothic vampires. The Armageddon Rag (1983) is a thriller that teases the reader with an exotic apocalyptic threat. Martin supervised a successful shared world scenario that subjected the comic book mythology of superheroes to mildly cynical analysis, Wild Cards (13 vols., 1987–95), before moving into the center ground of genre fantasy with the epic Song of Fire and Ice trilogy, comprising A Game of Thrones (1996), A Clash of Kings (1998), and A Storm of Swords (2000). A Feast for Crows (2004) began a further endeavor in the same vein.
MARTIN, GRAHAM DUNSTAN (1932– ). Scottish writer. Giftwish (1980) and Catchfire (1981) are immersive children’s fantasies, much lighter in tone than Soul Master (1984), an adult novel deploying similar materials in the service of a dark political allegory. His later works are mostly sf (refer to HDSFL), although the ambiguous science fantasy Half a Glass of Moonshine (1988) involves an enigmatic ghost. An Inquiry into the Purposes of Speculative Fiction: Fantasy and Truth (2003) explores the psychological roots of folkloristic and literary fantasy.
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MARTINE-BARNES, ADRIENNE (1942– ). U.S. writer who uses her maiden name, Adrienne Martinez, on nonfantasy works. The Dragon Rises (1983) elaborates the premise that King Arthur and Count Dracula are aspects of the same archetype. The series comprising The Fire Sword (1984), The Crystal Sword (1988), The Rainbow Sword (1989), and The Sea Sword (1989) is a wide-ranging historical fantasy, with elements of Celtic fantasy that were more explicitly developed in a trilogy she wrote with Diana Paxson, comprising Master of Earth and Water (1993), The Shield between the Worlds (1994), and Sword of Fire and Shadow (1995).
MASEFIELD, JOHN (1878–1967). British poet. Some of his verse is based in beast fables and fairy tales, and his plays include the Arthurian fantasy Tristan and Isolt (1923; book 1927) and several Christian fantasies. His most substantial contributions to the genre are children’s fantasies; the tentative imaginary adventures featured in A Book of Discoveries (1910) paved the way for more substantial accounts of The Midnight Folk (1927) and The Box of Delights (1935), both starring the laconic orphan Kay Harker; the latter story is a masterpiece of eccentricity with a central plot—involving the kidnapping of a Cathedral choir—that is elaborately decorated with fantasy motifs.
MASSON, SOPHIE (1959– ). Australian writer born in Indonesia to French parents of Breton descent. Her early fiction was naturalistic, but The Gifting (1996) and its sequel Red City (1998) mix Roman history and Celtic legend in their accounts of a decadent city. Many of her subsequent works are enterprising transfigurations of fairy tales. The StarMaker series comprises Carabas (1996; aka Serafin), based on Puss-in-Boots; Malkin (1998; aka Cold Iron), which adds Shakespearean elements to Tattercoats; and Clementine (1999), based on Sleeping Beauty. The Lay Lines series of neo-chivalric romances takes its inspiration from Marie de France; it comprises The Lady of the Pool (1998), The Lady of the Flowers (1999), and The Stone of Oakenfast, the last-named being original to the omnibus Forest of Dreams (2001). The Green Prince (2000) is based on a French fairy tale; The Firebird (2001) on a Russian tale.
Masson’s work became more adventurously innovative with The
Hand of Glory (2002), an alternative history of Australia with supernatural elements, and The Tempestuous Voyage of Hopewell Shakespeare (2003), a contemporary fantasy contriving a chimerical fusion
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of elements drawn from Shakespeare and Robert Louis Stevenson. In Hollow Lands (2004) is a Breton fantasy set in the 14th century, about children abducted by korrigans (Breton fairies). Snow, Fire, Sword (2004) blends Indonesian and Arabic myths. She also edited an anthology of Arthuriana, The Road to Camelot (2002).
MATHESON, RICHARD (1926– ). U.S. writer in various genres (refer to HDHL). His early spiritualist fantasy Come Fygures, Come Shadows (2003) and the Arabian fantasy Abu and the Seven Marvels (2004) were written long before publication, when the market was inhospitable to such experiments. Bid Time Return (1975; aka Somewhere in Time) is a sentimental/timeslip romance with a passionate insistence on the supernatural power of love that was more elaborately developed in the afterlife fantasy What Dreams May Come (1978), symptomatic of a developing credulity incompatible with the writing of further fantasy fiction.
MATSON, NORMAN (1893–1965). U.S. writer. Flecker’s Magic (1926), chosen as an exemplar by E. M. Forster for the lecture on fantasy reprinted in Aspects of the Novel, is an account of an American art student in Paris who comes into possession of a magic ring that he refuses to use. Doctor Fogg (1929), in which Flecker reappears in a minor role, is a science fantasy that similarly advances the moral that mundanity is always preferable to fantasy. Given this conviction, Matson was an odd choice to complete a fragmentary erotic fantasy left behind when Thorne Smith died, but The Passionate Witch (1941) spawned the movie I Married a Witch (1942) and the TV show Bewitched, both of which restored a little of Smith’s anarchic humor. Matson’s sequel, Bats in the Belfry (1943), stubbornly persisted in arguing that good wives ought not to be witches.
MAYNE, WILLIAM (1928– ). British writer of children’s fiction, whose fantasies make few concessions to their readers’ supposedly tender age. His complex timeslip fantasy Earthfasts (1966) was belatedly converted into a trilogy by the addition of Cradlefasts (1995) and Can-dlefasts (2000). Over the Hills and Far Away (!968; aka The Hill Road) employs a timeslip to bring problems of adolescence into a heightened and more elaborate focus, in a manner further refined in the hallucinatory fantasy A Game of Dark (1971). Mayne’s education in a cathedral choir school—reflected in many of his works—supplies the background to the dark fantasies It (1977) and Cuddy (1996), while his fas-
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cination with bleak landscapes is reflected in two of the novellas in All the King’s Men (1982). In Antar and the Eagles (1989), whose infant hero is kidnapped by eagles, is a notable allegory of flight. Folklore is recycled in a 1984 series for younger readers collected in The Book of Hob Stories (1991) and Hob and the
Goblins (1993); the The Blemyah Stories (1987) features an imaginary being of a similar ilk. The Worm in the Well (2002) recycles the legend of the Lambton Worm as an effective heroic fantasy.
McCAFFREY, ANNE (1926– ). U.S. writer whose hybrid/science fantasies are almost all represented as sf (refer to HDSFL), although the dragons featured in the Pern series of planetary romances provided the key exemplar of dragon fantasy. The early novellas in the Pern series, combined into Dragonflight (1968), appeared in Analog before commodified fantasy was established as a genre, and Dragonquest (1971) also retains a science-fictional gloss, but the children’s spinoff trilogy comprising Dragonsong (1976), Dragonsinger (1977), and Dragondrums (1979) emphasize the fantasy element, as did the best-selling The White Dragon (1978). The subsequent novels in the series—
Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern (1983), Nerilka’s Story (1986), Dragons-dawn (1988), The Renegades of Pern (1989), All the Weyrs of Pern (1991), The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (1993), The Dolphin’s Bell (1993), The Dolphins of Pern (1994), Red Star Rising (1996; aka Drag-onseye), The MasterHarper of Pern (1998), The Skies of Pern (2001), and Dragon’s Kin (2003, with Todd McCaffrey)—form a near-definitive epic fantasy that has been highly influential as a model. The People of Pern (1988) and The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern (1989, with Jody Lynn Nye) are guides.
McCaffrey’s labeled fantasies are for children; they include a series begun in 1985 with The Girl Who Heard Dragons (collection 1995), which became the basis of a shared world series by Elizabeth Scarborough; the Unicorn Girl shared world series (1997–99); An Exchange of Gifts (1995), in which a runaway princess and a poor boy must hide their magical talents; Nobody Noticed the Cat (1996), about a talented cat; and If Wishes Were Horses (1998), about a healer. She edited the anthology Alchemy & Academe (1970).
The A to Z of Fantasy Literature Page 44
