McMurphy
Apostate Against the Eloi
Imagine that you are about to teach a Modern Fantasy college course, and you had to put together a well balanced syllabus of reading material (10 books) for your class to read. What would be your choices? Remember, the point of the syllabus is to provide a well rounded introduction of modern fantasy, not necessarily a list of your top ten favorite novels of all time. Below is my fictional version:
"Modern Fantasy" is a slippery concept. If someone asks twelve different people what is the defination of modern fantasy, the odds are twelve different answers will be given. While some might believe modern fantasy can only fall into the "sword and sorcery" stereotype, others might come to the conclusion that works such as The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick are the true children of fantasy. That is why a clear defination of modern fantasy is necessary. For the purposes of this syllabus, the defination will be that modern fantasy is any fiction published between the 1930's to present that offers an alternate existence through fictional entities such as real or fictional animals/races, fictional magic/powers of the mind, alternate realities, Alter-Earths, or new mythologies. All of the ten books listed below will represent this defination of modern fantasy in different ways.
-J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (first published in 1937) is the starting point of modern fantasy because the book represents an elaborate fictional world (Middle Earth) so successfully that The Hobbit is almost treated like a rulebook for fantasy writers. The story wields a great landscape, highly imaginative characters, and it is an altogether new mythology. The book is also a great example of Joseph Campbell's archetypical hero-tale.
-Fritz Leiber's Ill Met in Lankmar (originally written as seperate short stories as early as the 1930's) fulfills the sword and sorcery aspect of modern fantasy. The two nomads, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, begin their adventures together at Lankmar and travel throughout Leiber's fictional world. Leiber is credited for being the founder of the sword and sorcery genre.
-George Orwell's Animal Farm (first published in 1945) is a good example of modern fantasy. Orwell uses a children's tale approach to cleverly masquerade a political and social satire. The book is important because it delivers a warning against blind faith and totalitarianism. Most importantly, Animal Farm presents one of the best examples of a dysutopian world.
-The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (first published in 1950) by C. S. Lewis is a classic example of a young-adult, modern fantasy story. Lewis not only created the land of Narnia, but in the process, he created one of the few fantasy epics for children. The book has a great depth of Christian symbolism.
-The Man in the High Castle written by Philip K. Dick (originally published in 1962) is the most diverse example of modern fantasy. That is why it is one of the most important books of this syllabus. Although it does fall into the definition of modern fantasy, it has often been considered science fiction. It is modern fantasy because, in this book, Dick has created an Alter-Earth where the United States has lost WWII. Even though the book has a neat premise, that alone is not what makes this story so important. Dick also shows the reader how reality is built from illusions because "reality" is nothing more than perception. That is a subject rarely touched in modern fantasy.
-Watership Down, written by Richard Adams (first published in 1972), is a fine example of an utopian story. It acts as a good counter-weight to Animal Farm. Adams uses the lives of run-away rabbits to illustrate the important points on how to live a meaningful life within an meaningful society structure.
-Carrie written by Stephen King in 1974 is included in this syllabus because horror novels are such a vital part of fantasy. Carrie is a teenage girl with telekinetic powers and a religious fanatic as a mother. There is a huge social underlining about religion, peer pressure, high school, and the cruel destructive nature of the human race in this novel.
-Necroscope (originally published in 1986) by Brian Lumley also provides the horror element in modern fantasy. It is the fact that Necroscope tackles the subject of vampires and communicating with the dead that makes it an important addition. Vampires have been around in folklore and fiction for centuries and Lumley makes a professional contribution.
-Small Gods by Terry Pratchett has a more upbeat role in modern fantasy: humor. In Small Gods, a great and powerful god is reduced down to a tortoise because he has only one true believer. It is not that other people don't believe in this god; the problem is the worshipers have centered their beliefs around the shrines of him instead. Unfortunately, his sole believer is a simple-minded garden keeper that gets caught up in something dangerous. It all takes place on a planet called Discworld. It is full of modern day ideas that are misplaced in a sword and sorcery fantasy setting.
-The graphic novel, Sandman: Season of the Mists by the novelist Neil Gaiman (first published as a graphic novel in 1995) makes an unique addition to modern fantasy. Sandman has great depth in writing that is all too uncommon in the comic book medium. The premise of the Sandman series is that there is another level of reality that is often identified as dreamland. Sandman is the name of the Lord of Dreams, and his family is known as the Endless. The series if full of abstract ideas and complex storylines. Sandman: Season of the Mists is a perfect introduction to new readers because there is a prologue that fully describes the premise of Gaiman's reality. Sandman was the first and only comic book series to win the World Fantasy Award.
"Modern Fantasy" is a slippery concept. If someone asks twelve different people what is the defination of modern fantasy, the odds are twelve different answers will be given. While some might believe modern fantasy can only fall into the "sword and sorcery" stereotype, others might come to the conclusion that works such as The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick are the true children of fantasy. That is why a clear defination of modern fantasy is necessary. For the purposes of this syllabus, the defination will be that modern fantasy is any fiction published between the 1930's to present that offers an alternate existence through fictional entities such as real or fictional animals/races, fictional magic/powers of the mind, alternate realities, Alter-Earths, or new mythologies. All of the ten books listed below will represent this defination of modern fantasy in different ways.
-J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (first published in 1937) is the starting point of modern fantasy because the book represents an elaborate fictional world (Middle Earth) so successfully that The Hobbit is almost treated like a rulebook for fantasy writers. The story wields a great landscape, highly imaginative characters, and it is an altogether new mythology. The book is also a great example of Joseph Campbell's archetypical hero-tale.
-Fritz Leiber's Ill Met in Lankmar (originally written as seperate short stories as early as the 1930's) fulfills the sword and sorcery aspect of modern fantasy. The two nomads, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, begin their adventures together at Lankmar and travel throughout Leiber's fictional world. Leiber is credited for being the founder of the sword and sorcery genre.
-George Orwell's Animal Farm (first published in 1945) is a good example of modern fantasy. Orwell uses a children's tale approach to cleverly masquerade a political and social satire. The book is important because it delivers a warning against blind faith and totalitarianism. Most importantly, Animal Farm presents one of the best examples of a dysutopian world.
-The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (first published in 1950) by C. S. Lewis is a classic example of a young-adult, modern fantasy story. Lewis not only created the land of Narnia, but in the process, he created one of the few fantasy epics for children. The book has a great depth of Christian symbolism.
-The Man in the High Castle written by Philip K. Dick (originally published in 1962) is the most diverse example of modern fantasy. That is why it is one of the most important books of this syllabus. Although it does fall into the definition of modern fantasy, it has often been considered science fiction. It is modern fantasy because, in this book, Dick has created an Alter-Earth where the United States has lost WWII. Even though the book has a neat premise, that alone is not what makes this story so important. Dick also shows the reader how reality is built from illusions because "reality" is nothing more than perception. That is a subject rarely touched in modern fantasy.
-Watership Down, written by Richard Adams (first published in 1972), is a fine example of an utopian story. It acts as a good counter-weight to Animal Farm. Adams uses the lives of run-away rabbits to illustrate the important points on how to live a meaningful life within an meaningful society structure.
-Carrie written by Stephen King in 1974 is included in this syllabus because horror novels are such a vital part of fantasy. Carrie is a teenage girl with telekinetic powers and a religious fanatic as a mother. There is a huge social underlining about religion, peer pressure, high school, and the cruel destructive nature of the human race in this novel.
-Necroscope (originally published in 1986) by Brian Lumley also provides the horror element in modern fantasy. It is the fact that Necroscope tackles the subject of vampires and communicating with the dead that makes it an important addition. Vampires have been around in folklore and fiction for centuries and Lumley makes a professional contribution.
-Small Gods by Terry Pratchett has a more upbeat role in modern fantasy: humor. In Small Gods, a great and powerful god is reduced down to a tortoise because he has only one true believer. It is not that other people don't believe in this god; the problem is the worshipers have centered their beliefs around the shrines of him instead. Unfortunately, his sole believer is a simple-minded garden keeper that gets caught up in something dangerous. It all takes place on a planet called Discworld. It is full of modern day ideas that are misplaced in a sword and sorcery fantasy setting.
-The graphic novel, Sandman: Season of the Mists by the novelist Neil Gaiman (first published as a graphic novel in 1995) makes an unique addition to modern fantasy. Sandman has great depth in writing that is all too uncommon in the comic book medium. The premise of the Sandman series is that there is another level of reality that is often identified as dreamland. Sandman is the name of the Lord of Dreams, and his family is known as the Endless. The series if full of abstract ideas and complex storylines. Sandman: Season of the Mists is a perfect introduction to new readers because there is a prologue that fully describes the premise of Gaiman's reality. Sandman was the first and only comic book series to win the World Fantasy Award.
