by 
Traditional Fantasy Defined
Traditional fantasy began as oral literature and has no known author. This literature includes folk and fairy tales, myths, legends, as well as creation and religious stories from around the world.
Often we think traditional fantasy is for children; however, a genre of stories aimed specifically at children is a more modern idea. Traditional fantasy tales were intended for everyone. It’s true that stories like Beowulf, Gilgamesh, and other myths and legends are more sophisticated than some folk tales, which appeal to small children.
Traditional fantasy has charmed audiences through the ages.
Beginings
Because traditional fantasy grew from an oral tradition, storytellers acted as guardians, passing stories from generation to generation.
As with any oral account handed from person to person, the stories likely changed with each new telling, and individual storytellers put their unique spin on the different tales.
Tradition fantasy is universal and can be found in all cultures and societies. Some examples are:
- the Cinderella tale,
- creation and apocalyptic stories (beginning and ending),
- resurrection of gods,
- dragons,
- hero’s quest.
Themes and motifs are also global. Here are a few examples:
- death and resurrection,
- love,
- rites of passage,
- overcoming evil,
- bloodshed causes more bloodshed,
- fate (impossible to change),
- danger of arrogance,
- good is rewarded,
- evil is punished.
Once people could write and create permanent copies of stories, the oral tradition became less important and was in danger of being lost. Concerned scholars and writers like Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and French author Charles Perrault began collecting folk stories and tales and preserved them in collections.
The Grimm brothers and Perrault retold some of the same tales, but often their versions were slightly or sometimes strikingly different. one way to account for some the differences is to realize that the Grimm brothers wrote for the masses, while Perrault’s wrote for the upper-classes; however, regional differences in storytelling were also a factor.
Some of the earliest tales can be traced back to the Middle East, which was more advanced in writing and other technologies than in the West. The migration of this literature isn’t surprising considering the Greeks and later the Romans expanded their empires, and cultures began mixing.
As I mentioned in the last post, Gilgamesh (Middle East origins) is considered the first piece of great literature, and The Thousand and One Arabian Nights is believed to have come from Persia (Iran).
The key point is that once the stories were written, they were preserved for all time, and literature began to change, making way for individual authors to create their own stories.
Characteristics Of Traditional Fantasy
1) The stories are set in a vague past: “Once upon a time . . .”
2) Most tales involved magic, special abilities, or divine intervention.
3) Often traditional fantasy was designed to impart and reinforce cultural and societal norms.
4) These tales do not have well-developed characters.
5) The characters represent types, often archetypes, rather than individuals: the good man or woman, the fool, the good child, etc. The hero, villain, monster, mentor, the sidekick, the lover are some of the standard types.
6) Themes in these stories relate to the culture and values of the time: mercy, kindness, bravery, the power of love, perseverance, survival, justice. Because these are universal ideas, we still relate to them.
7) The tales contain repeated patterns. For example, the number three is often repeated. Cinderella went to the ball three times; Jack takes three visits up the bean stock. The repetition could be words,”Fee, fi, fo, fum” or “Run, run, as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man.” These patterns enabled storytellers to remember patterns and the memorized stories.
What Traditional Fantasy Is
Fairy tales of all kinds fall into this category. Keep in mind that we think of these as stories for children, but they weren’t necessarily intended for children. The target audience was everyone.
Examples of the influence of traditional fantasy abound. Consider the popularity of retelling Cinderella and adventure stories.
- Cinderella stories: Ever After, Enchanted, Pretty Woman, Fifty First Dates, Clueless;
- Adventure stories like Jason and the Golden Fleece: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Neverwhere.
Here are the types of fairy tales and a brief definition of each.
1) Cumulative Tales: they repeat and build upon the story, for example, The House That Jake Built; kids love these.
2) Pourquoi Tales: “Why” tales answer the question of why things are. Why do bees buzz? Today, we usually prefer science over making stuff up, but these tales can be fun.
3) Beast Tales: stories in which animals are the characters: Three Little Pigs, Three Blind Mice.
4) Trickster Tales: I love these tales. They usually feature an animal, like the Native American coyote, who is sneaky and tricks others into doing something he wants. Often the tricks backfire on the trickster. Our modern-day con artist stories are rooted in this tradition.
5) Fools Tales: These are funny tales about someone who does foolish things that often turn out all right in the end: Jack and the Beanstalk. A lot of comedies play off this same premise. Just turn on a sitcom, and you’ll see fools at work.
6) Realistic Tales: Stories about real people or events or things that could have happened: Johnny Apple Seed.
7) Fairy or Wonder Tales: Magic, monsters, witches, fairy-godmothers, and things that go ouch in the night: Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, et al.
8) Tall Tales: These grew out of the American push westward. Oral tales that are exaggerated: Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry. When someone tells you that Davy Crockett killed a bear when he was three, you know there’s some exaggeration involved.
In addition to fairy tales, myths, legends, and epics belong in this category.
1) Myth: myths come from people’s need to explain and understand their world and their existence. Greek and Roman mythologies come easily to mind, but every culture has their myths.
2) Epic or Hero Tale: a long poetic story or series of stories (no, we did not invent the series books) written in verse and about a particular, often fictional, hero: The Illiad, The Odyssey, Beowulf.
3) Legend: Are you scratching your head because the explanation I just gave for epic sounds like a legend? Yes, they are similar. There is a fine line between the two. Legends are rooted in history; in other words, our hero is likely to be someone who did live. So, The Iliad could be either an epic or a legend, while Robin Hood and King Arthur are historical figures.
Knowing the slight differences between Epic and legend isn’t a huge deal. Knowing that they are entertaining, exaggerated tales that usually reinforce social ideas and beliefs is more to the point.
Not Traditional Fantasy
Once it became possible to write stories down and preserve them, known writers used the storytelling patterns of traditional fantasy to create and invent stories. Eventually, these new stories developed and evolved away from the traditional patterns. But keep in mind that even when these new stories seem like fairy or folk tales, early authors do not fall into the category of Traditional Fantasy.
Authors like Hans Christian Anderson made up their stories; they were not re-telling. Their stories seem similar because they used oral storytelling patterns, but traditional fantasy is distinct because the stories do not have known authors.
Anderson and others are part of the next wave of storytellers: writers.
Joseph Campbell and Jack David Zipes
Joseph John Campbell, a mythologist and academic, has probably done more to popularize stories from the oral tradition than anyone. If you are interested in myths, you might want to read his work. The Hero with a Thousand Faces, The Masks of God, and The Power of Myth are his most popular.
If you are interested in fairy tales, Jack David Zipes, a retired professor, has several excellent books. He’s interested in the evolution of fairy tales as well as their social and political role. Zipes believes fairy tales “serve a meaningful social function, not just for compensation but for revelation: the worlds projected by the best of our fairy tales reveal the gaps between truth and falsehood in our immediate society.” (Source: The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre)
You Might Also Like These Posts
What is Fantasy? Part 1
Fantasy: A Brief History (What is Fantasy? Part 2)
The Hero’s Journey (What is Fantasy Part 4)
The Usual Reminders:
Don’t forget to leave a comment, Speak Your Mind, or join the conversation on Google+.
If you enjoyed this post, please share. You can use the links at the top or below the post. Thanks!
