Low fantasy
Fantasy intruding on the real world.
The term is often used for stories set in the real "primary" world rather than an alternative "secondary" world.[1] David Ketterer, emeritus professor at Concordia University, noted that the French term "le fantastique" closely corresponds to low fantasy.[2] Magical events entering an otherwise ordinary world define the low fantasy subgenre, which is set apart from high fantasy where stories occur in fictional worlds possessing their own distinct laws and physics.[3]
Quick Facts
- Alternative definition context
- Role-playing games
- Related french genre
- le fantastique
- Notable early author
- E. Nesbit
Facts from the source article.
Making and release
Fantasy fiction developed from nineteenth-century fairy tales, with early folklore scholarship leading it to dominate Victorian children's literature.[4] After the Edwardian era, the genre split into high and low fantasy.[4] Low fantasy itself diverged into further subgenres in the twentieth century, including personified animals, personified toys, comic fantasies, magical powers, supernatural elements, and time slips.[5] There is no tradition of "dragons and wizards" fantasy in French literature.[6]
Fantasy writer David Chandler considered this rise of low fantasy to reflect the contemporary reality of the war on terror.[7] Within French literature, the low fantasy subgenre dominates fantastic fiction because no tradition comparable to English high fantasy exists there.[2] During the early 21st century, authors such as George R. R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie gained greater prominence; their high fantasy novels, though set entirely in fantasy worlds, have been labeled "low fantasy" due to their reduced emphasis on magic and non-human intelligent races.[7]
What the cited sources add
A 1997 interview with J. K. Rowling in The Herald described Harry Potter as "a fantasy but one leavened with enough everyday life to give it an authentic feel".[8] Rowling stated that Harry Potter "is not divorced from reality" and that the book is about power and escaping adult confines.[8] Terry Pratchett, in a 2002 interview, refused to call his work "magical realism," saying that term is "like a polite way of saying you write fantasy".[9] Pratchett noted that fantasy provides "a lot of good metaphors to consider" for current affairs that recur throughout history.[9]
According to the GURPS Fantasy rulebook, low fantasy is "closer to realistic fiction than to myth," with narratives that concentrate on characters' everyday routines and pragmatic objectives.[10]
References
- Wikipedia, "Low fantasy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gamble, "Exploring Children's Literature", SAGE Publications Ltd, 2008, p. 102–103 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Low fantasy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ketterer, "Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy", Indiana University Press, 1992, p. 27 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Low fantasy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stableford, "The A to Z of Fantasy Literature", Scarecrow Press, 2009, p. 256; Wolfe, "Critical Terms for Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Glossary and Guide to Scholarship", Greenwood Press, 1982, p. 67 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Low fantasy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jean-François, "Worlds of Wonder", University of Ottawa, 2004, p. 190–192 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Low fantasy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jean-François, "Worlds of Wonder", University of Ottawa, 2004, p. 190–192; Jean-François, "Worlds of Wonder", University of Ottawa, 2004, p. 190–192; Temple, "Children's Books in Children's Hands", Allyn and Bacon, 1998, p. 340 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Low fantasy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ketterer, "Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy", Indiana University Press, 1992, p. 27; Ketterer, "Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy", Indiana University Press, 1992, p. 27 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Low fantasy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chandler, "A Game Of Subgenres", SF Signal, 8 December 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Happy ending, and that's for beginners", The Herald, 23 June 1997. facts only, no text reused. heraldscotland.com
- "Terry Pratchett by Linda Richards", januarymagazine.com, 2002. facts only, no text reused. januarymagazine.com
- Wikipedia, "Low fantasy" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stoddard, "GURPS Fantasy", Steve Jackson Games, 2009, p. 6 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Low fantasy (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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