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Fantasy

A Short History
By Adam C. Roberts and Adam Roberts
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Brief Description
One of the most popular genres of modern times, fantasy literature has as rich a cultural and literary heritage as the magical worlds that so enrapture its readers. In this book, a concise history of the genre, Adam Roberts traces the central forms and influences on... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

One of the most popular genres of modern times, fantasy literature has as rich a cultural and literary heritage as the magical worlds that so enrapture its readers. In this book, a concise history of the genre, Adam Roberts traces the central forms and influences on fantasy through the centuries to arrive at our understanding of the fantastic today.

Pinning the evolution of fantasy on three key moments - the 19th-century resurgence of interest in Arthurian legend, the rise of Christian allegory, and a post-Ossian, post-Grimm emergence of a Norse, Germanic and Old English mythic identity – Roberts explores how the logic of β€˜the fantastical’ feeds through into the sets and trappings of modern fantasy.

Tracking the creation of heroic and high fantasy subgenres through antiquarian tradition, through C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien and into the post-Tolkien boom in genre fantasy writing, the book brings the manifestation of the fantastic beyond literature into art, music, film and TV, video games and other cultural productions such as fandoms.

From Tennyson and Wagner, through Robert Graves, David Jones, Samuel Delany, Dungeons and Dragons, Terry Pratchett and Robin Hobb, to the Game of Thrones, Skyrim, The Witcher and The Lord of the Rings media franchises, the book digs into the global dissemination and diversity of 21st-century fantasy.

Accessible and dynamic, wide-ranging but comprehensive, this is a crash-course in context for the most imaginative form of storytelling.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781350407824

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 24 April 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic

Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 22.0mm

Width: 232.0mm

Height: 156.0mm

Weight: 454g

Pages: 296

Collections

Adam C. Roberts Adam Roberts Arts & Culture Fantasy General Fiction Non-Fiction Sci-Fi & Fantasy

About the Author

Adam Roberts is an award-winning writer, critic and scholar. He is the author of 12 science fiction novels and stories and he has written for The Guardian and The Times. Professor in Nineteenth Century Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, he has published numerous scholarly works such as The History of Science Fiction (2016) and The Riddles of the Hobbit (2013).

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