San Antonio College Library

"Transcending arguments over the definition of fantasy literature, [this book] introduces a ... new system of classification for the genre. Utilizing nearly two hundred examplkes of modern fantasy, [the] author ... uses this system to explore how fiction writers construct their fantastic worlds. Mendelsohn posits four categories of fantasy ... that arise out of the relationship of the protagonist to the fantasy world. Using these sets, Mendelsohn...

"Presents the genre from a holistic perspective, arguing that this subgenre of fantasy literature is misunderstood as result of decades of incomplete and reductionist literary studies. Asserts mythopoeic fantasy is the most complete literary expression of a worldview based on the existence of supernatural powers and could transform social consciousness with renewed emphasis on anticipating the future"--Provided by publisher.

Although J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are usually associated with one another as friends and academic colleagues, they claim they did not influence each other's work. Yet, we are told, Lewis remarked to Tolkien, "There is too little of what we really like in stories, I am afraid we shall have to write some ourselves." They flipped a coin. As a result, Tolkien was to write about time and Lewis about space. Most scholarship about J.R.R. Tolkien and...

"This book examines the quest for/failure of Utopia across a range of contemporary American/transnational fictions in relation to terror and globalization through authors such as Susan Choi, André Dubus, Dalia Sofer, and John Updike. While recent critical thinkers have reengaged with Utopia, the possibility of terror -- whether state or non-state, external or homegrown -- shadows Utopian imaginings. Terror and Utopia are linked in fiction through...