Fantasy: A Short History [Hardcover]

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 '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 theGame of Thrones,Skyrim,The WitcherandThe Lord of the Ringsmedia 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.

Broad-ranging comprehensive but concise this is a historical overview of the rise of genre Fantasy, tracings it roots, influences and evolution from the 19th to the 21st century across the globe, various media and culture.Adam Robertsis an award-winning writer, critic and scholar. He is the author of 12 science fiction novels and stories and he has written forThe GuardianandThe Times. Professor in Nineteenth Century Literature and ClÓ\