Today, the fantasy genre is very popular.Some condescendingly call such literature entertaining and lowbrow. But only a person who is completely unfamiliar with the best examples of this genre can say so.
What is fantasy?
The fantasy genre is a kind of fantastic literature,based on fabulous and mythological motifs. In the form in which it is presented now, it was formed at the beginning of the 20th century. Nowadays, this genre is used in painting, cinema, board and computer games.
Works of this genre are similar toadventure novels, the events of which take place in fantastic worlds close to the real Middle Ages. Their characters are faced with fantastic supernatural creatures and phenomena.
Fantasy and science fiction
These two genres are really similar, but scientificfiction seeks a scientific explanation of the world in which the narrative of the book unfolds. Fantasy takes everything for granted, the very existence of the world of these works doesn’t say anything relatively real - you can consider them parallel or on other planets. The physical laws of fantasy spaces also do not correspond to those that exist in our world. There may be mythical races (gnomes, elves, trolls), gods, ghosts, sorcerers, and magical animals (unicorns and griffins).
Fantasy differs from a fairy tale in that miracles and magical phenomena are considered to be something regular, ordinary and even commonplace.
Genre division fantasy
Gradually, fantasy as a genre began to grow, and it had its own branches and subgenres:
- Epic fantasy.
- Heroic Fantasy.
- Slavic fantasy.
- Historical fantasy.
- Urban fantasy.
- Humorous fantasy.
- Baby fantasy.
How did it all begin?
It's no secret that any of the emerging genresnecessarily has predecessors. These are works in which, in one way or another, they guess the motives, plot moves and techniques of the new genre. Fantasy was no exception, and he found predecessors. So who are they, the first authors of fantasy?
Jonathan Swift, whose pen belongsawesome novel "Gulliver's Journey". The work is based on a fabulous, even archetypal, travel motive. The hero finds himself in different countries, whose laws do not at all correspond to ours, meets with wonderful creatures and fantastic animals - Lilliputians, giants, Gwingnmas. Of course, this work is not just an ancient example of fantastic literature - it is a masterpiece of classical literature.
Mary Shelley - woman writing gothicthe novel, which for many subsequent generations has become an inexhaustible source of ideas and interpretations, is Frankenstein, or Modern Prometheus. Although this work can be more attributed to science fiction, there are also fantasy motifs in it.
Lewis Carroll is a mathematician who created an amazing children's story - “Alice in Wonderland”. His world, full of paradoxes and illogical phenomena, had an enormous influence on science fiction as a whole.
How not to remember Bram Stoker, the creatorthe famous "Dracula". This vampire novel spawned many imitations in both literature and cinema. Especially now the vampire fantasy has gained immense popularity. It all began with the most ordinary and undistinguished, except for its cruelty, historical figure.
What happens in the world of fantasy today?
The rating of fantasy books today is notmade up only lazy. This is due, of course, with the incredible popularity of the genre. More and more writers appear, it is more and more difficult to find really high-quality talented literature in this huge variety of options.
But the best fantasy is known even to those who nevernot interested in this genre. The titles of these works are well known, their film versions turn into significant events for the cinema. So, what works are included in a small number that can be called a classic of the genre?
John Ronald Ruel Tolkien
Who, if not the creator of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", to lead the rating of books of fantasy?
The epic novel in three parts - "The Lord of the Rings" -The most famous fantasy work. This book was the most popular in the twentieth century and continues to be published to this day. No other work has had such an impact on literature and world culture.
The trilogy was a sequel to the greatfairy tales fantasy "The Hobbit". Tolkien, being an Oxford professor of philology and specializing in the medieval myths of Northern Europe, believed that England lacked its own epos, so it must be created. With these thoughts, the writer took up the continuation of The Hobbit.
Роман был издан в 1954–1955 годах.They accepted the "Lord of the Rings" ambiguously. Tolkien's colleagues were delighted, many readers also appreciated the book, but newspaper critics found a number of flaws in it: the incomplete character of the characters, conservatism. However, if you remember that the author originally thought about the epic, such claims are eliminated by themselves. Epos is in itself a conservative genre that does not provide for the particular psychologism of its characters.
To date, "The Lord of the Rings" - the best fantasy.
Ursula Le Guin
Цикл о волшебнике Геде, начинающийся с романа "The Wizard of Earthsea", often topped the list of fantasy books. The work of the American writer, Ph.D. and laureate of many literary awards can really be called a model of excellent fantasy literature, endearing both adults and children.
Объединяют романы место действия – чудесный и the striking world of Earthsea, and the main characters are the Great Magician Ged and the priestess of Tenar. This is one of the best examples of fantasy, adventure lurks here at every turn, and the world is full of unexpected encounters and unprecedented stories.
Clive Staples Lewis
«Хроники Нарнии» - серия, объединяющая в себе fantasy fairy tales, beautiful and amazing stories about a magical land. Kindness and love rule there, birds and animals can talk, and forests are inhabited by magical creatures.
The cycle consists of seven books that are translated into more than 40 languages of the world.
Andrzej Sapkowski
Stories about the Witcher Geralt have long becomepopular and have a huge number of fans and admirers. But the world and the events of The Witcher are very different from the usual fantasy adventure. Gradually, the semi-fairy world, whose heroes are well disguised fairy tale characters (Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, knights, kings, jesters, gnomes, elves, etc.), turns into a cruel, bloody space where magicians spin intrigues and wage wars ; beautiful elves are ready to cut the throat of any oncoming person; and in every forest or abandoned basement you can find a bloodthirsty monster. Such is this unfriendly, dangerous, but terribly delectable world of the Witcher Geralt.
Based on the saga, the series was filmed, computer games were released that had great success, rock opera was staged, and in Poland, in the writer's homeland, comics were also published.
George Martin, A Song of Ice and Flame
Today, very few people have heard of this cycle.And all thanks to the HBO TV series, but even before the book was released, the series took first place in The New York Times bestseller lists. The rating of fantasy books in this series is constantly growing.
D.Martin created an epic saga about the world of the Seven Kingdoms. A world where eternal summer and eternal winter are side by side. On the world of heroes and traitors, kings and bastards, knights and murderers. And fate brought them all together to fulfill the ancient prophecy.
Joan C. Rowling
Кто из нас не слышал о мальчике-сироте со шрамом in the form of lightning? The Harry Potter series is rightfully topped the list of fantasy bestsellers. But initially, publishers refused to print the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, asserting that it would not be popular.
A series about the boy wizard todayreceived several literary awards, became the best-selling in history and formed the basis of films, which, by the way, also became the highest-grossing series of films in the history of cinema.
Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett's Flat World Series of Books -a fine example of subtle English humor, incredible adventures and charming heroes. Even Death is not an old woman with a scythe, but a seeker of the meaning of life, an eternally tossing character riding a white horse and having a weakness for cats.
In 2009, Pratchett was promoted to knight bachelor by Elizabeth II herself. Based on his works, several films have been shot and animated series created.
Рейтинг книг фэнтези можно составлять бесконечно for a long time, since today many wonderful works have already been written, which will take a lot of time to list, and how many more worthy works will the world see?
