San Antonio College Library

Provides individual essay-reviews of 500 titles, series, and collections written by some of the most respected writers of fantasy. Also includes 19 topical essays, Chronology, and Annotated bibliography and a Bibliography of fantasy anthologies.

"Drawing from a viewpoint informed by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Matthew Dickerson and David O'Hara explore the influence and importance of ancient biblical narrative, Greek mythology, Arthurian legend, and other works of "Faerie" on our literary culture. They discuss how myth and fantasy offer profound insights into truth and provide sound assessment of modern authors such as Philip Pullman, Walter Wangerin, and J.K. Rowling."--Jacket.

"In this comprehensive study, Jamie Williamson traces the literary history of the fantasy genre from the eighteenth century to its formation following the success of Tolkien's work in the 1960s. While some studies have engaged with related material, there has been no extended study specifically exploring the roots of this now-beloved genre. Using the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series (1969-74) as the touch point in identifying what Williamson terms...

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...

"[This book] is the exploration by a distinguished American poet and critic of his own lifelong fascination with the work of Edgar Allan Poe. ... Delving ... into the clues to Poe's achievement--as poet, as aesthetician, as inventor of science fiction and the mystery tale, as explorer of the human soul--Daniel Hoffman builds a sympathetic case for this tormented author, baring the secret of his 'inescapable truths' and the hold they have on his readers."--Dust...

A selection of tales and poems, visually interpreted with photographs by Simon Marsden, capturing the world as Poe envisaged it.