Where Did Fantasy Literature Begin?
In the beginning there was Gilgamesh!
In “What is Fantasy?” Part 1 post, I dance around the definition of fantasy. Defining fantasy is not as easy as it might seem. Unless you are taking a test and have to recite a specific answer, most of us come up with our own definition.
Another thing that interests me is fantasy’s long, rich history.
I like to take a panoramic view of fantasy’s history, a kind of time-lapse snapshot from the beginning to the present. In future posts, I’ll take a closer look at the individual divisions.
Ready for a bold claim? All literature has its beginnings in fantasy. I know, someone somewhere has stopped breathing and is about ready to start calling me names, but stay with me for a little while, and you’ll see what I mean.
One way to view this history is to divide it by types. Imagine four divisions. The first two divisions encompass the beginning of all literature: oral tales, myths, legends, religious and cultural stories. All have elements of the fantastical: monsters, god-like strength, dragons, miracles, spirits, and more. In other words, they are works of fantasy.
- Traditional Fantasy;
- Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment Fantasy (MRE)
- Early Modern Fantasy;
- Modern Fantasy, we are on firmer ground and in our time zone.
Traditional Fantasy
These stories come from the oral tradition, and they do not have a known author.
Storytellers memorized, stylized, and embellished these tales. Everyone likes to tell stories and every culture has its own stories. Many stories are universal. Stories were told around a campfire, a hearth, or any place people gathered.
An interesting observation is that oral storytelling didn’t stop when written language was invented, in some places the oral tradition still continues.
However, when writing became more accessible and print cheaper, the oral tradition became less important. There were fewer storytellers, and some of the stories were lost. Scholars and others, like the Grimm Brothers, collected these “folk” stories and retold them so they wouldn’t be lost. But, I’m getting ahead of the story.
In addition to oral stories, there are also written stories without a known author, which probably came from the oral tradition. The Epic of Gilgamesh, a Mesopotamian epic poem, is one of these and is often touted as the first great work of literature. Gilgamesh, written about 2500 BCE, has many elements of fantasy.
All cultures have stories that are rooted in culture and part of a society’s oral traditions. Often they are religious stories about gods, goddesses, and other deities. Sometimes the stories are related to cultural and societal values passing morals, attitudes, and values to people.
Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment Fantasy (MRE)
Sounds sweeping, doesn’t it? And MRE seems to overlap with traditional fantasy. In a timeline sense, they do overlap; however, what separates MRE from traditional fantasy is that MRE stories have known authors, and the stories are original works created by those authors. These stories might include traditional fantasy tropes and storytelling techniques but not all MRE stories did.
A difference between MRE fantasy and modern fantasy is the fantastical elements of MRE fantasy are still rooted in the “real” world. In other words, the authors aren’t creating new and different worlds, but their fantasies take place in the known world. Urban fantasy follows this tradition.
Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory, an example of MRE, has fantastical elements, like dragons, wizards, magic, and magical swords, but the setting is medieval Europe. The King Arthur legends are considered Romances, but keep in mind that there wasn’t a fantasy genre until the 20th century. Romances of the time were courtly stories of kings, queens, knights, wizards, and others. The stories detail the courtly adventures.
Early Modern Fantasy
Early Modern moves into the Victorian era. Hans Christian Anderson writes fantasy patterned after traditional fantasy, but others branch out, moving in new directions, developing plots and character as they experiment with story structure. Now, a reader can fall down a rabbit hole and enter Wonderland. Now, writers begin to imagine other worlds and fantasy begins to look more familiar to contemporary readers.
The stories still have fantastical elements set in a familiar world, but people no longer believe these stories are true or historical. George MacDonald, a Scottish writer, ushers in early modern fantasy and influences J. R. R. Tolkien, who changes fantasy forever.
Modern Fantasy
Now we are on more familiar ground. Anyone geeky enough will remember when they first read the Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring trilogy knows when modern contemporary fantasy took flight. Tolkien created a new world, an epic story, and changed fantasy forever. Fantasy writers that came after built on what Tolkien did. The genre has taken many twists and turns and branched out in many directions. Plus some of today’s brilliant authors have expanded and broadened the genre.
Next post: A Closer Look At Traditional Fantasy.
You Might Also Like This Post
What is Fantasy? Part 1
Traditional Fantasy (What is Fantasy Part 3)
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!