Week 3

How has fantasy as a genre been defined? Find at least five formative definitions in Attebery (1980).

In Attebery (1980)‘s article, according to W. R. Irwin, fantasy is pointed out as ‘an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility’ and ‘whatever the material, extravagant or seemingly commonplace, a narrative is a fantasy if it presents the persuasive establishment and development of an impossibility, an arbitrary construct of the mind with all under the control of logic and rhetoric (p. 9).’ Fantasy, then, presupposes a view of exterior reality which it goes on to contradict. It is, as J. R. R. Tolkien said, ‘founded upon the hard recognition that things are so in the world as it appears under the sun; on a recognition of fact but not slavery to it.’
Again, according to Attebery (1980), the fantasy is defined as any narrative which includes as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law. It can involve beings whose existence we know to be impossible, like dragons, flying horses, or shape-shifting men. It can revolve around magical object, and it can proceed through events that violate fundamental assumptions about matter and life. Fantasy treats these impossibilities without hesitation, without doubt, without any attempt to reconcile them with our intellectual understanding of the workings of the world or to make us believe that such things could under any circumstances come true.

Can the genre legitimately be defined by examples?

Of course, it can, I believe, by those of impossible things such as magical objects that are defined as above. Attebery (1980) argues by demanding a straightforward treatment of impossible characters, objects, or events, we can distinguish between fantasy and related genres. A good example, in Harry potter, there is flying cars and brooms

References
Attebery,. B. The Fantasy Tradition In American Literature: From Iriving to Le Guin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980, 1-10.