Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction Michael Levy (bio) Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction. By Peter Hunt and Millicent Lenz. London and New York: Continuum, 2001 First it should be said that this book is part of Continuum's Contemporary Classics of Children's Literature series which, according to the series editor, Morag Styles, is intended to "provide essential reading for those working on undergraduate and higher degrees on children's literature" (ii). Further, we are told that the series "avoids jargon and is accessible to interested readers from parents, teachers and other professionals, to students and specialists in the field" (ii). I mention this because it seems to me that Hunt and Lenz, two of our finest critics, in accepting this charge and in attempting to write to such a broadly defined audience, have in fact both agreed to do something rather difficult and have succeeded admirably in doing so. The book consists of four long essays: Flunt's Introduction; Lenz's examination of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea tetrology; Hunt's discussion of Terry Pratchett's juvenile novels and his Discworld series; and Lenz's detailed survey of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Hunt begins his introductory essay with a series of quotations from Mr. Gradgrind in Dickens' Hard Times, Le Guin, noted science-fiction writer Brian Aldiss, and Terry Pratchett, which alternately condemn and praise fantasy. Taking his direction from these statements, Hunt then enters into a detailed discussion of how seriously one should take the genre, quoting from a wide range of critics on both sides of the issue and noting that fantasy literature is often condemned as "formulaic, childish, and escapist" (2). He then goes on, quite eloquently it should be noted, to demolish these suppositions, insisting that not only is fantasy often startlingly original and deeply rooted in serious real-world concerns, but it is also frequently not even appropriate for a child audience. In a subdivision of his Introduction entitled "Marking the Boundaries," Hunt surveys various attempts to define what fantasy is, although he remarks with the wry [End Page 216] good humor that characterizes much of his work that doing so "seems to be a fairly defensive exercise" (10). He does, however, ultimately define a "fundamental difference...between fantasy set in 'this' world, where there is a tension between the 'normal' and the fantastic elements, and 'other' worlds in which the fantastic is the norm" (11). Hunt follows this up with the interesting observation that American fantasy writers tend to specialize in "other world" fantasies, whereas their British counter-parts, surrounded as they are with so much more history, are more likely to set their tales in their own world. In the rest of his Introduction, Hunt covers a number of other worthwhile topics, including the genre's historical roots, the necessary interconnections between fantasy and realism, and the tendency of many fantasists to use the genre for social or political purposes. He also mentions in passing dozens of genre classics, from Sarah Trimmer's Fabulous Histories to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and he devotes somewhat more extended discussion to such works as Charles Kingsley's Wafer Babies, the Alice books, The Wind in the Willows, Winnie-the-Pooh, Tolkien's tales of Middle Earth, and Lewis' Narnia series. Hunt's Introduction ends with a valuable extended bibliography of articles and books on fantasy literature. Millicent Lenz's essay on the Earthsea books suffers from two minor shortcomings. First, it was presumably composed and sent to press just prior to the publication of Le Guin's two major additions to her classic series, Tales from Earthsea (2001) and The Other Wind (2001), and thus could not consider these important books. Second, to the extent that Lenz's intent is to survey previous critical opinion on the Earthsea series, her essay is somewhat overshadowed by Donna R. White's well-done Dancing with Dragons: Ursula K. Le Guin and the Critics (1999), which Lenz includes in her bibliography, but otherwise barely mentions. Lenz's primary purpose, however, as is signaled by the title of the first subdivision in her essay, "What Earthsea Is About," is to...