Fantasy

With its origins in the earliest oral and written texts, fantasy can be linked to the magical stories of myth, legend, fairy tale, and folklore that appear in cultures worldwide. As a discrete genre, literary fantasy uses elements of enchantment and the supernatural to break free of everyday reality; in its modern form, it melds timeless mythic patterns with contemporary individual experiences and emphasizes the relationship between the individual and the infinite. In presenting this landmark survey of an enduring, ever-fascinating form of literature, Mathews argues that fantasy unlocks…