Modern Fantasy

The King of the Golden River (1841), by John Ruskin, is considered a milestone. Which conditioned the embryonic birth of the modern fantasy literary genre (modern fantasy).

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However, people are more familiar with the milestone in the history of modern fantasy literature beginning with George MacDonald. He is a Scottish writer. It fluttered through the novels The Princess and the Goblin and Phantaste(1858). It is this literary work that is widely regarded as the first fantasy novel ever written specifically for the adult segment.

Another great fantasy writer of this era was William Morris, the famous English poet who also wrote several novels at the end of the century.

What is modern fantasy?

What is the difference between a short story and this variety of writing?

Judging from writing techniques, length-short, and rules; It’s the same. The difference lies in the time setting, atmosphere, and characters that age a more modern world.

The differentiating factor or differentiation of this type of story, namely that there is an element of modernity in it. The modern one is the culprit, the story, and the setting at this moment. It doesn’t tell about the past.

Modern fantasy in http://www.clt.astate.edu/sparks/Modern%20Fantasy.htm is defined as follows.
“Modern Fantasy refers to literature, written by an identifiable author, set in imaginative worlds and make-believe. These stories contain places, people and creatures that could not exist or events that could not happen such as animals talking. Science Fiction is considered Modern Fantasy since it is impossible at this time but could happen in the future.”

While Latrobe, Brodie, and White (2002: 70-71) define modern fantasy as follows,

“A fictitious work in which the characters, actions, and/or setting are deliberately freed from reality. There are two types of fantasy: high fantasy (which occurs in another world where physical and human laws do not exist) and low fantasy (which, though set in the real world, presents events which are magical).”

So, modern fantasy refers to literary works. Written by a clear author, although it is an imaginative work, it is written in such a way that it makes the reader believe.

The stories include places of events, stories of unusual people or creatures or unusual events such as talking animals. Science fiction is considered a modern fantasy because it does not happen today, but takes place in the future.

Thus, it is clear that the differentiating factor or differentiation of this type of story, namely that there is an element of modernity in it. The modern one is the culprit, the story, and the setting at this moment. It doesn’t tell about the past.

As Norton notes (Norton, Donna E. and Saundra E. Norton. Through the Eyes of a Child: An Introduction to Children’s Literature. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall, 2003: 284:300.) Examples of modern fantasy are as follows.
1. About animals
a. Beatrix Potter – Peter Rabbit b. Michael Bond – Paddington Bear
c. Rudyard Kipling – Jungle Book and Just So Stories
d. Kenneth Grahame – Wind in the Willows
e. Robert Lawson – Rabbit Hill
f. George Selden – Cricket in Times Square
g. E.B. White – Charlotte’s Web
2. Games
a. Rumer Godden – Doll’s House
b. Margery Williams – Velveteen Rabbit
c. A.A. Milne – Winnie the Pooh
d. Carlo Collodi – Pinocchio
3. Shrewd and awe-inspiring character
a. Extraordinary, silly sututure, and silat tongue
b. Carl Sandburg – Rootabaga Stories
c. Astrid Lindgrin – Pippi Longstocking
d. Roald Dahl – James and the Giant Peach
e. Pamela Travers – Mary Poppins
4. Strange worlds
a. Lewis Carroll – Alice in Wonderland
b. James Barrie – Peter Pan
5. Little Wong
a. H.C. Andersen – Thumbelina
b. J.R.R. Tolkien – The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy
c. Carol Kendall – Gammage Cub
d. Mary Norton – The Borrowers
6. The loyal spirit of friends and something frightening
a. Ghost stories or supernatural beings
b. Lucy Boston – Children of Green Knowe
7. Time Warps
8. Science Fiction
a. Scientific hypotheses and imaginations about technological progress
b. Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
c. Jules Verne – Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
d. John Christopher – White Mountain
e. Madeleine L’Engle – Wrinkle in Time
f. Anne Macaffrey – Dragons of Pern series

illustration source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/raikonkitsunearts/reimei-no-gakuen-modern-fantasy-otome-visual-novel/community

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Masri Sareb Putra
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