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

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

For me, magic is secondary to:

1. Absence of modern technology
2. A setting that is either clearly not our world, or one where it is our world but something significant is different (e.g. magic works, dragons are real).

However, the setting depicted in my userpic is one which I would say is fantasy, yet is set in the far future and where magic is (supposedly) derived from technology lost in earlier ages.

This isn't an easy question to answer...

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

But aren't points 1 and 2 mutually contradictory? In most urban fantasy settings, the world is comparable to our own, but magic / supernatural creatures exist alongside 21st century technology. Books like Jim Butcher's Dresden Files may not be high / epic fantasy à la Tolkien, but I'd definitely consider them fantasy, and their protagonist is a modern-day wizard driving a VW Beetle...

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

It's a personal thing - but that wouldn't be fantasy to me. Maybe some related genre like as you say 'urban' fantasy.