Tolkien, Lewis and the explosion of genre fantasy

James, Edward

doi:10.1017/ccol9780521429597.007

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…In addition to this, I propose a distinction within the genre of fantasy itself, which seeks to account for the different degrees of connection between the worlds portrayed in the fantastic and our own world. For this purpose, I consider Wolf's (2012) claims, which take into account the relationship between our actual world and the secondary fantastic world(s) created in fantasy, an unusual concept before Tolkien brought it into the mainstream (James, 2012). Wolf proposes that there are different types of secondary worlds depending on how detached they are from the primary/actual world.…”

Section: Fencing Off Fantasy and Secondary Worldsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The different segmentations of the genre or which works are categorized as such are partly due to the variability of the genre itself but also derive from commercial and aesthetic factors. As for commercial factors, there has always been fantasy on the market but modern fantasy, as we know it, is claimed to have emerged from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (LOTR henceforth) (James, 2012) in the 1950s. Before that, fantasy and science fiction were largely ignored by criticism, which ‘dismissed [them] as beneath notice’ (Attebery, 2003: 45) and ‘all but invisible’ (Wolfe, 1986: 11).…”

Section: The Fantasy Genrementioning

confidence: 99%

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Telecinematic stylistics: Language and style in fantasy TV series

Castro

2023

Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics

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The language of written fantasy has been amply studied, with extensive research on authors such as JR Tolkien, Robert E Howard, or Aldous Huxley. The study of television language, on the other hand, is attracting increasing attention, even though the scope of such research often encompasses a single TV show rather than whole genres. Given the renewed interest in all things fantasy, this study seeks to analyze the language of fantasy TV series from a corpus-stylistic perspective to open new paths for linguistic inquiry. First, I depart from a theoretical distinction that relies on Mandala’s (2012) overview of the field and James and Mendlesohn’s (2012) definitions of fantasy as a genre; I consider some of the traits they associate with written fantasy and propose a taxonomy of the different types of fantasy worlds in television. On the basis of this, I design my own TV fantasy corpus by sampling three episodes from fifteen American fantasy TV shows (2011-2021) and compare it against Davies’ TV Corpus (2021). Using a corpus-based approach, I implement a POS (part-of-speech) and semantic analysis of the corpus and consider whether, and if so how, the language of fantasy in television reflects the same characteristics scholars have identified in written fantasy and general television discourse. In doing so, I aim to contribute to the understanding of the style of fantasy as a genre and assess whether fantasy TV series are characterized by particular linguistic features.

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Section: Fencing Off Fantasy and Secondary Worldsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Fantasy Genrementioning

confidence: 99%