Stories about Stories: Fantasy and the Remaking of Myth

by Brian Attebery

Myth is oral, collective, sacred, and timeless. Fantasy is a modern literary mode and a popular entertainment. Yet the two have always been inextricably intertwined. Stories about Stories examines fantasy as an arena in which different ways of understanding myth compete and new relationships with myth are worked out. The book offers a comprehensive history of the modern fantastic as well as an argument about its nature and importance. Specific chapters cover the origins of fantasy in the Romantic search for localized myths, fantasy versions of the Modernist turn toward the primitive, the post-Tolkienian exploration of world mythologies, post-colonial reactions to the exploitation of indigenous sacred narratives by Western writers, fantasies based in Christian belief alongside fundamentalist attempts to stamp out the form, and the emergence of ever-more sophisticated structures such as metafiction through which to explore mythic constructions of reality.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mythology, Writing, Literary Criticism, History, Research, American

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2013

About the author

Brian Attebery is professor of English at Idaho State University and the editor of Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. He edited The Norton Book of Science Fiction (1997) with Ursula K. Le Guin and Karen Joy Fowler and is the author of Stories About Stories: Fantasy and the Remaking of Myth (2014) and Decoding Gender in Science Fiction (2002), among other books. In 2019 he was Leverhulme Visiting Professor of Fantasy Literature at the University of Glasgow.

Reviews

[Tijana]

Ateberijeva knjiga je zaista odlična i to iz više razloga:
- čovek zna o čemu piše tj. vrlo dobro poznaje i fantastiku i (što nisam znala) antropologiju/etnologiju/folkloristiku, što je posle iks autora koji misle da sve počinje i završava se Džozefom Kembelom neverovatno osveženje
- ima oko za detalje i za ubedljive analize pojedinačnih dela u kojima pokazuje različite moguće odnose između fantastike i mita / religije / numinoznog kao takvog
- ne trudi se da napravi kruti kalup u koji će onda da nagura živa dela dok se ona koprcaju, ipak je ovo čovek koji je uveo fazi setove u teoriju epske fantastike
- voli Džordža Mekdonalda (to je zapravo samo po sebi dovoljno).

[Mladen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! A wonderful insight into the relationships between myth and fantasy.

[Katherine Sas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that Ursula Le Guin, Tom Shippey, & Maria Tatar endorse Brian Atterbery's Stories About Stories in superlative and complimentary blurbs on the back cover should clue readers in to the fact that, despite its mere 200 pages, it is indeed, as Shippey says, "the best analysis we yet possess of mythopoesis." I'm not quite sure how, but Atterbery manages to give a thorough and well-researched history and survey of the fantasy genre, covering everything from the original folk and classical source material; the 19th century folklore revival and Romantic Nationalist movement; the early twentieth century relationship of Modernism and the birth of modern fantasy (exemplified by the Inklings and the Bloomsbury Group as well as synthesized by Hope Mirrlees & Charles Williams); and the more recent explorations of metafiction and postmodernism in the works of Alan Garner, Ursula Le Guin, and Philip Pullman. And that's leaving out quite a lot, actually. Atterbery is affectionate but critical of the fantasy genre. He neglects neither the critical Western European foundations of Mod Fan, nor the more neglected non-Western and post-colonial experiments and offshoots. And he manages to mix some lovely analysis in with the history lesson. I'd recommend this book to experts and noobs alike, and will certainly return to it myself in the future.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book, not a great one, and there is the measure of my disappointment. Attebery is at his very best -- which is exceptionally good -- when actively analyzing and commenting on individual texts and authors. He is usually quite skilled in integrating such analysis with the opinions of other scholars. Attebery makes many fascinating observations on Charles Williams, Hope Mirlees, George MacDonald, and Ursula K. Le Guin, among others, as well as on various species of fantasy, angels, and post-colonial fantasy. This book is an excellent education in the history of the genre.

Yet it is not without fault. At times Attebery slips into that self-renewing world in which scholars reference only each other and make pronouncements for which they neither adduce evidence nor produce an argument. Some call this engagement, but elopement might be the better term. True enough, this turning away from evidence is a common enough failing in academic writing over the last couple of generations, but it is the flight of the deserter rather than the escape of the prisoner (and so not to be commended). Mercifully, Attebery never stumbles into the Mirkwood of Jargon, where every utterance is impressive, but only as clear as the lyrics to Close to the Edge.

He seems a bit harder on C.S. Lewis than is necessary, however, and is at times dismissive: the entry of Joy Davidman into Lewis' life is apparently the sole reason that Till We Have Faces is less open to the charge of misogyny than Narnia is. While Joy Davidman surely had a profound effect on him, perhaps Till We Have Faces should suggest the need for a re-examination of the case again Lewis rather than the facile conclusion that he was swept off his feet and into enlightenment.

He also makes the occasional bald assertion, such as claiming that 'in order to avoid direct representation of religious iconography' Shakespeare substituted 'fairies for angels.' Did he? How so? But no proof is offered, no argument made. Since Shakespeare's fairies could not be mistaken for angels, and since Shakespeare's audience knew well that fairies and angels were not the same. this is an odd claim.

In discussing the attempt, specifically of G. P. Taylor, to write fantasy acceptable to literalist Christians, a failed attempt as it turned out, Attebery comments: 'Even the most faithful transcription of faith language into a work of fantasy has the effect of setting religion adrift.' But this one unsuccessful attempt by Taylor doesn't establish this. Perhaps Taylor just did it badly. Moreover, while it only takes one example to prove that something can be done, one example cannot prove that it cannot be done.

So I do recommend this book, but not without reservation. I found much to profit by here, but also some moments that could mislead the unwary.

[Andrew Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

HIGHLY recommend this book to Tolkienists and lovers of fantasy literature and good stories. Attebery's exploration
Of the rediscovery of myth through fantasy literature is very compelling.
Esp.good chapter on George MacDonald and C.S. Lewis and one of the most comprehensive chapters I have read on Angels, Fantasy and Belief. A great follow up to Attebery's Strategies of Fantasy. Must read

[Saige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attebery is one of fantasy's core theorists for a reason. This book was insightful in ways I didn't expect - the chapter about angels felt out of place at first, but imagining angel kitsch culture as an outcropping of a majority viewpoint has me reevaluating a lot of things. I appreciate his attention to nuance especially. It's common nowadays for critics to decry works or authors for being exclusionary or appropriative, far less common to see critics actually considering how that appropriation function, and quite rare to see a critic take the side of an author wrongfully shunted. Attebery has his thumb on the pulse of why representation matters, including the immense role of myth and storytelling in representing not only many peoples, but many ways of being in the world. I do wish this book had a conclusion, though. A few more pages re-iterating the linkages between his many arguments would have brought all the essays together better for me.

[Jayden King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential critical reading for anyone writing speculative fiction or studying the fantasy genre.

[verbava · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantasy writers spin cultural memorates to remind us that we are, and have always been, part substance and part story.

потужна, добре продумана й цікаво написана спроба більш-менш академічного осмислення фентезі в його тяглості (а тому ви знайдете тут купу культурних контекстів) й розмаїтті (що робить книжку цінним списком літератури).

[TheAfictionado · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully readable (coherent, engaging, as well as sometimes quite funny) academic text on the connection between myth and fantasy, and the issues that arise therein, such as the question of cultural ownership and of originality.

[Debbie Ledesma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting nonfiction book about how fantasy creates the modern day myths. I recommend this book.

[Kelly Sauskojus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely the best of his work that I’ve read. Does a really good job showing how Lewis & Tolkien relate to past and current fantasy, without over- or under-stating their role. Also offers a really good reading of Till We Have Faces, and some good thoughts about why postmodern culture desperately needs myth.