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Originally Posted by SDNess I'm going to make my own syllabus, but I still don't understand your definition of "modern fantasy". What would be other types of fantasy, in this case... |
You, of course, are free to construct a syllabus built upon the framework of your own personal defination of "Modern Fantasy." In fact, I highly encourage people to make one based on how they see fantasy rather than on a prescribed version.
The term fantasy can umbrella various subgenres of fictional worlds, entities, mythology, etc. from a prism of approaches. Horror is a good example. Should it be considered less of an example of fantasy than, say, Robert Jordan's
The Wheel of Time? Personally, I believe it shouldn't because such distinctions really stem from a preference of storytelling approach rather than from a variance from defining characteristics.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry isn't fantasy because, while it does depict a fictional tale, it also weaves fiction within a factual world and the factual laws of existence.
Carrie by Stephen King may be considered fantasy because the novel centers around the adolescent social torture of a girl "gifted" with supernatural mental powers: a gift that is not traditionally viewed as a possibility in the real world.
Defining Modern Fantasy as a subgenre of Fantasy is the act of acknowledging the starting point and the present trend in fantasy writing that stays faithful to it. It would be hard to argue with the notion that most mass marketed fantasy novels keep true to Tolkein's (and perhaps Leiber's on a smaller scale) vision of epic conquests. Since Tolkein is often viewed by scholars as the turning point of fantasy writing, they tag him and the 1930s as the starting point for Modern Fantasy. While I happen to uphold that notion, it would be closed-minded of anyone to consider it as "fact," so I am more than happy to entertain other definations.