The second chapter of Farah Mendlesohn and Edward James's A Short History of Fantasy covers the pre-1900 transition from myth to intentional fantasy (2009, Middlesex University Press).
Many writings from classical times on had fantastic elements, but could be viewed as unintentional fantasy. Elements of mystery and magic were blended with religion and a supernatural worldview. Realism in art and literature, according to the authors, is the catalyst for intentional fantasy because "only once there is a notion of intentional realism . . . can there be a notion of intentional fantasy."
Thus the authors mention many works including the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, Beowulf, Prose Edda, and the Celtic Mabinogion.
Then there were ancient novels such as Apuleius's The Golden Ass and a romance by an unknown author about Alexander. The "Matter of Britain" (stories about King Arthur and his knights) and "Matter of France" (stories of Charlemagne and his paladins) emerged from this tradition.
The authors spend time in the fairy story tradition next, which is Celtic in origin. Fairy is a parallel world to our own, and is the origin of the concept of portal fantasies (where people from the real world are transported to magical ones). In the nineteenth century, new fairytales were being written, many of them with disturbing elements even though the genre was later relegated to children's fiction.
Next comes "the Gothic"—tales in which the world we live in is a delusion. In some cases the motive of authors was to critique government and society in an age where criticism was regarded as treason. The theme of Gothic is the savagery of the modern age. Medieval settings came more and more to be romanticized and it is in this time that the tropey medieval setting of much fantasy literature was established. Celebrated Gothic authors include Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, and more.
Meanwhile, Romanticism brought in happier ideas to fantasy. Keats, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley gave a kind of "glowing imagery" that has stuck in fantasy literature.
Then came the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of poets, artists, and critics founded in 1948. Raphael was considered the transition from medieval to the High Renaissance. In other words, they admired the medieval. Medieval architecture, art, poetry, etc. And this is, no doubt, why medievalism has predominated the fantasy genre.
It is from Pre-Raphaelitism that William Morris emerged, with early fantasies such as The Well at the End of the World. Whereas previous fantasies had posited parallel worlds, Morris now created entirely separate worlds—worlds that were independent and apparently real to those who lived in them.
These fantasies that began to surface as the twentieth century drew near had a common attribute: an intense focus on detail. Pre-Raphaelite art was "detailed far beyond the possibility of perspective." But impressionism was growing in the art world and realism was shifting in literature and thought more to the realm of the psychological.
The authors tease at the end of the chapter, saying that the twentieth century would bring a new voice to this concern for detail.
Stay tuned for Part 3!
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