Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction: Essays on the Antecedents of Fantastic Literature

Front Cover
Darrell Schweitzer
Wildside Press LLC, Dec 1, 1996 - Literary Criticism - 176 pages
The antecedents of fantasy literature extend back to the very beginnings of storytelling itself, but modern fantasy became recognizable as a distinct literary form only in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with the publication of the novels of William Morris and the short stories of Lord Dunsany. The emphasis by these writers and their successors on ideal and sometimes less than ideal places and peoples who exist only in a realm of pure imagination laid the foundation for later works by J. R. R. Tolkien and many others. Book jacket.
 

Contents

Introduction by Darrell Schweitzer
5
No Fit Employment for a Grown
49
John Collier Fantastic Miniaturist by Alan Warren
68
The Works of E R Eddison
88
David Lindsay and the Quest for MuspelFire
104
Man of Many Voices by Don DAmmassa
122
Notes
151
Index
165
Copyright

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About the author (1996)

Author and editor Darrell Schweitzer was born on August 27, 1952. He primarily writes fantasty, horror, and science fiction works, but he also writes literary criticism and edits collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres. He has published over three hundred short stories. His individual work has been nominated three times for the World Fantasy Award and he received it once as part of the editorial team of Weird Tales.

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