Fantasy

[wellinghall]

camillofan has asked me:
"Is the distinguishing feature of fantasy (as opposed to other sorts of speculative fiction) Magic?"

And she has also said:
"What you need is a bracing debate on what exactly constitutes fantasy literature."

So - over to you, oh wise FList. What made a book "fantasy"?

Comments

[foradan.livejournal.com]

I would define the difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy based on whether the 'rules' of the fictional universe are logical and consistent. If the principle of induction works in the fictional universe, and can be used to deduce the 'rules' of the fictional universe in a scientific fashion then it is science fiction. If any whim imaginable by a wizard or supernatural being can be satisfied based on their innate powers, then it is fantasy. This definition can be, however, very hard to implement, as authors do not usually describe in detail the rules of their universe, even if they do try to come up with some. If they try, then the result would be liable to end up in SF by my definition, as such rules would tend to be logically consistent. Even if the universe is intended by the author to be scientifically understandable, they may or may not be very convincing about it, so that the fictional universe may work better when understood as fantasy rather than SF (by my definitions of course). An author saying that Clarke's third law makes any 'magic' effect work in their SF novel isn't enough to make it work as SF for me.

eg Star Wars. If you take the original trilogy, I would place it as Fantasy, due to the Force. The prequel trilogy makes a bad attempt to scientifically explain the Force, indicating that it is supposed to be SF, but not being very convincing about it, so that Star Wars works better as fantasy than SF under my definition. The other fact that the general plot of the original film ticks virtually all the boxes of a cliche fantasy plot, just supports my position.

eg Mind powers in Babylon 5. An author could convince me that telepathy could work in an SF novel, but telekinesis is more of a difficult one, but maybe possible. However, I see no logical reason for any connection between telepathy and telekinesis. They are completely different effects. The only connection is that they are both 'will power' effects (ie magic in the not-SF sense).

For 'true' SF fiction, the possibility of a scientific understanding of the fictional universe should not just be intended, but should also be important in some way to the plot. Otherwise it is just a story within an SF setting.

I happen to be particularly interested in fiction which is intended to stand just on what I consider the SF side of the fantasy/SF divide. Such as 'The Flying Sorcerors' by Niven, 'The Practice Effect' by Brin, and slightly differently, 'Wyrms' by Card. These are all fantasy-type stories which are actually SF by my definition, and make use of Clarke's law in a convincing manner. Fiction that seems to me to stand just on the other side of the divide I often find a bit disturbing. The conclusion of Stevenson's 'System of the World' trilogy for instance.

Here I seem to be defining SF more than I am defining Fantasy. Any sensible definition of Fantasy would seem to include all speculative fiction, unless they specifically exclude SF and Horror of course.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Add a very important one; Roger Zelazny's superb Lord of Light which has all the trappings of Hindu mythology, but which is actually science fiction, verging into hard SF.