What do you think?
Rate this book
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
Covering books, films, television and the ever-increasing panoply of related media, this encylopaedia provides a reference work on the genre of fantasy. It contains a collection of critical viewpoints.
1049 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1997
13 people are currently reading
1043 people want to read
About the author
John Clute
58 books41 followersJohn Frederick Clute (1940- ) is a Canadian born author and critic who has lived in Britain since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part of science fiction's history."
Clute's articles on speculative fiction have appeared in various publications since the 1970s. He is a co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (with Peter Nicholls) and of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (with John Grant), as well as The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction, all of which won Hugo Awards for Best Non-Fiction. Clute is also author of the critical essay collections Strokes, Look at the Evidence, and Scores. His 1999 novel Appleseed, a space opera, was noted for its "combination of ideational fecundity and combustible language" and was selected as a New York Times Notable Book for 2002. In 2006, Clute published the essay collection The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror.
Clute's articles on speculative fiction have appeared in various publications since the 1970s. He is a co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (with Peter Nicholls) and of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (with John Grant), as well as The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction, all of which won Hugo Awards for Best Non-Fiction. Clute is also author of the critical essay collections Strokes, Look at the Evidence, and Scores. His 1999 novel Appleseed, a space opera, was noted for its "combination of ideational fecundity and combustible language" and was selected as a New York Times Notable Book for 2002. In 2006, Clute published the essay collection The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
June 15, 2020
So, what magic did this book work on me to earn its five amazing stars? What sense of wonder did it stir?
See here:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
See here:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
October 13, 2011
I was working on an A Level English coursework project about fantasy literature when I came across a cheap copy of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy at a book sale on holiday. The book had been published only a year or so before; a full-price copy would have been well out of my budget, but I could afford to take a chance on the sale copy — and it turned out to be one of the best purchases I ever made.
It’s difficult to put into words just what it felt like to read The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and be swept away by its enthusiasm and knowledge. For one thing, the book is incredibly wide-ranging: it has entries on individual authors, artists, films and TV series; different types of fantasy; "motifs" used in fantasy stories, and more besides (flick through the pages around the entry on Tolkien, for example, and you’ll also find entries on tall tales, three wishes, Mark Twain, tricksters, Time Bandits, trains...); and it’s great for browsing, because there’s always something else interesting nearby. And the Encyclopedia is great for discovery, because it brings together so many different things, and finds links where one wouldn’t necessarily expect to see them — I’ve certainly found plenty in its pages that I wanted to investigate, and I still have a lot of investigating to do.
Something else I particularly like about The Encyclopedia of Fantasy is that it’s not just descriptive; it has its own idea of what makes good fantasy (it should “release or even...catapult the reader into new areas of the imagination,” as John Grant puts it in one entry), one that doesn’t map neatly on to the published category. When I started reading it, I found that the Encyclopedia’s way of thinking chimed pretty well with my own developing taste; I also appreciated its prose style, which managed to sound knowledgeable without being stuffy. These became strong influences on the way I think and write about books, and some of that influence is still there today. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy did more to shape me as a reader than just about any book before or since.
It’s difficult to put into words just what it felt like to read The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and be swept away by its enthusiasm and knowledge. For one thing, the book is incredibly wide-ranging: it has entries on individual authors, artists, films and TV series; different types of fantasy; "motifs" used in fantasy stories, and more besides (flick through the pages around the entry on Tolkien, for example, and you’ll also find entries on tall tales, three wishes, Mark Twain, tricksters, Time Bandits, trains...); and it’s great for browsing, because there’s always something else interesting nearby. And the Encyclopedia is great for discovery, because it brings together so many different things, and finds links where one wouldn’t necessarily expect to see them — I’ve certainly found plenty in its pages that I wanted to investigate, and I still have a lot of investigating to do.
Something else I particularly like about The Encyclopedia of Fantasy is that it’s not just descriptive; it has its own idea of what makes good fantasy (it should “release or even...catapult the reader into new areas of the imagination,” as John Grant puts it in one entry), one that doesn’t map neatly on to the published category. When I started reading it, I found that the Encyclopedia’s way of thinking chimed pretty well with my own developing taste; I also appreciated its prose style, which managed to sound knowledgeable without being stuffy. These became strong influences on the way I think and write about books, and some of that influence is still there today. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy did more to shape me as a reader than just about any book before or since.
January 14, 2018
A 1999 encyclopedia with an extensive overview of fantasy. Not only movies, authors, and magazines, but also themes. From FOREST and EDIFICE to THINNING.
The thematic entries have a lot of interesting stuff. Though, since they do have a concept of fantasy, works that do not match their template may be discussed with the sound of an ax grinding. (Also some ax grinding on personal topics.)
The thematic entries have a lot of interesting stuff. Though, since they do have a concept of fantasy, works that do not match their template may be discussed with the sound of an ax grinding. (Also some ax grinding on personal topics.)
January 8, 2008
If there is a better reference work for the fantasy genre, I don't know what it is. This was last updated in the late 90s and the authors have said that it will not be updated in print again -- it will be online only. That's a shame for paper-lovers like me; I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent in the company of this, paging back and forth between entries. Sure, clicking through a website is easier in some ways, but thus far that hasn't materialized. Virtually every writer and novel that I've ever heard of that could be considered part of the genre is in here; the authors seem to have missed nothing. You can probably get both this and its science fiction companion quite cheap now, and I would highly recommend them if you have any interest in the byways of the fields. One thing I really like is that neither book discriminates against the more "literary" figures (Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie, etc) who sometimes are given short shrift in genre-geeky references. The writing is generally serious, and I like the fact that "objectivity" isn't always the highest goal; no matter how popular a book or author may be, Clute et al are not afraid to cut them down to size, though never maliciously.
A genuinely great combination of scholarship and fandom.
A genuinely great combination of scholarship and fandom.
March 18, 2019
Makes the fantasy end of speculative fiction worthy of serious consideration. Develops its own reading of subgenre through deployment of a coherent lexicon: thinning, the land, wrongness, and so on. The lexicon was likely developed more through the reading of Tolkien and other classics and less through acceptance of terminology of folklorists such as Propp, though that kind of influence is manifest also. Nifty in its identification of many sub-subgenres of fantasy, and useful in making distinctions between high fantasy, epic fantasy, sword & sorcery, revisionist fantasy, and the other fifty or so items.
Indispensable for those who think speculative fiction is serious business.
Indispensable for those who think speculative fiction is serious business.
August 11, 2008
One of the "must haves" for anyone who collects fantasy or just enjoys reading.
September 7, 2025
finished the thing. and by that, i mean i read all entries that had anything to do with literature, skipping over 98% of all discussions regarding movies or comics or illustrators or etc. indeed, when reading, id often wonder at the unnecessary strangeness of including films in the first place. i guess it made sense with the original editions of the sfe in the 1970s, and then was just a legacy addition thereafter, buoyed by the sunk cost and in-the-books word count of the existing entries. but its difficult to read either encyclopedia without feeling that the emphases necessary to catalogue televisual sf seems just so left field from the the core of the concern (literature) as to be like two separate encyclopedias mashed together, and with one obviously secondary in interest to the other. in other words, is it more likely that a fan of superman movies picks these up and encounters evangeline walton or vice versa? and, for either scenario, who's reading the other?
its really only the existence of a pre-internet world that explains the thing, in which case its stupid of me to read an obvious reference work and expect to get anything but a reference work. and that i (and so many others) DO expect something more speaks to the quality of those entries, the inclusion of a traceable, often idiosyncratic and personal voice to the writing. its clute, then, that has bamboozled us, which is what this ultimately has going for it. to that end, id wish many that are using this to hear an opinionated, thoughtful consideration of tanith lee would go and pick up clutes more focused review collections.
to ramble on some more, i find it likewise interesting that the encylcoffantasy is paired so readily (and often unfavorably) with its sfe big brother, given how vastly different are the tasks of cataloguing what are, crudely, one of the earliest and one of the more recent popular literary genres. the borders here are defined, policed, and made manageable, therefore, through an implicit genre sf delineation, and justifiably so, although in that still remains a consistent attentiveness to precursors and non-standard fantastika. all the same, many of the entries cannot help but retread much of the ground that was already tilled by the sfe, especially as that previous work often operated on the seeming assumption that something like an encyclopedia of fantasy would not exist, and therefore devoted a not-insubstantial chunk of both literal and analytical space to the "fantastical" output of many authors covered in the sfe. what the encycl of fantasy does have going for it, over and above that of the sfe, i would venture, is a more rewarding selection of thematic entries -- excellent at revealing shared and hidden conceptual foundations across eras and authors rather than just serving as a means to list books employing one or another plot device. the themes here, in other words, are not just tropes, but frameworks.
its really only the existence of a pre-internet world that explains the thing, in which case its stupid of me to read an obvious reference work and expect to get anything but a reference work. and that i (and so many others) DO expect something more speaks to the quality of those entries, the inclusion of a traceable, often idiosyncratic and personal voice to the writing. its clute, then, that has bamboozled us, which is what this ultimately has going for it. to that end, id wish many that are using this to hear an opinionated, thoughtful consideration of tanith lee would go and pick up clutes more focused review collections.
to ramble on some more, i find it likewise interesting that the encylcoffantasy is paired so readily (and often unfavorably) with its sfe big brother, given how vastly different are the tasks of cataloguing what are, crudely, one of the earliest and one of the more recent popular literary genres. the borders here are defined, policed, and made manageable, therefore, through an implicit genre sf delineation, and justifiably so, although in that still remains a consistent attentiveness to precursors and non-standard fantastika. all the same, many of the entries cannot help but retread much of the ground that was already tilled by the sfe, especially as that previous work often operated on the seeming assumption that something like an encyclopedia of fantasy would not exist, and therefore devoted a not-insubstantial chunk of both literal and analytical space to the "fantastical" output of many authors covered in the sfe. what the encycl of fantasy does have going for it, over and above that of the sfe, i would venture, is a more rewarding selection of thematic entries -- excellent at revealing shared and hidden conceptual foundations across eras and authors rather than just serving as a means to list books employing one or another plot device. the themes here, in other words, are not just tropes, but frameworks.
August 2, 2022
If there were any one-stop bibliographic reference to the authors, themes, and purpose of fantasy literature either in print or on screen, this ought to be he one, with content that readers may turn to, again and again.
June 2, 2018
It has taken some time but I finally got finished. I never realized just how all-encompassing the genre of fantasy truly is.
May 13, 2024
deeply detailed
March 2, 2012
This book has been an amazing help with all my questions, concerns. It was worth every penny. It is set up like an Encyclopedia with terms listed in alphabetical order. The amazing listings are detailed and list trend settings, novels, television shows and movies. The fantasy race definitions include the origin of the creature (original oral myths and legends), traced their evolution and list important writers and works that have presented them in different ways. This has also been an excellent source for terminology I do not understand and helps me differentiate between terms like dystopia and apocalypse. There are listings for books, writers, television shows and movies, as well as terminology. In addition to fantasy, it includes some limited information on science fiction and a lot of entries on horror. I can't live without it now.
March 10, 2009
Another pivotal book in my life. I found a cheap copy in a book sale, at just the right time, when I was really beginning to form my tastes in reading. It opened my eyes to so many books and authors -- and, more importantly, a way of thinking about fantasy fiction that really strucka chord with me. It's great to browse through, too: serious and knowledgeable, but also well-written and even very funny in places.
I still have that copy I bought in the book sale. The spine needs repairing and the jacket is long gone -- but I won't part with the book. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that The Encyclopedia of Fantasy has had more influence on me as a reader than has any other book.
I still have that copy I bought in the book sale. The spine needs repairing and the jacket is long gone -- but I won't part with the book. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that The Encyclopedia of Fantasy has had more influence on me as a reader than has any other book.
February 15, 2012
Need a big book to find all the questions you have about SF and F?
This is it. It's an actual encyclopedia and it's a tome. A perfect antidote for geeks and newbies alike, writer and readers too, and any one curious about almost any element of speculative fiction.
Get your glasses out since the pages are crammed with text, and expect a work out. This is a BIG book.
Its section on fairies was fantastic!
(btw - thanks Seak!)
This is it. It's an actual encyclopedia and it's a tome. A perfect antidote for geeks and newbies alike, writer and readers too, and any one curious about almost any element of speculative fiction.
Get your glasses out since the pages are crammed with text, and expect a work out. This is a BIG book.
Its section on fairies was fantastic!
(btw - thanks Seak!)
December 30, 2012
There should be a six star rating for this, it's that good, too. Does your admiration of genre go beyond the level of 'OMG, Tolkien's elves are awesome'. Then this is for you. It's arrangement of entries might not to be everyones liking, but deal... Writing about it makes me want to go home and curl up with for a bit of random browsing.
Bought my copy at Fruggles, which was an overstock and seconds bookstore chain that's gon. and probably cost me $5.
Bought my copy at Fruggles, which was an overstock and seconds bookstore chain that's gon. and probably cost me $5.
April 28, 2014
The tragedy of this book is that it was published before Harry Potter, clueless Bella and Jackson's Lord of the Rings films appeared.
The value of the book is that an exhaustive collection of writers, artists and film-makers are gathered into one book (and yes, books are still more user friendly than wikipedia)and the whole genre is presented in a lively, considered and academic way. if you want to discover new novels, missed films and exotic artists, this is the book to have. Try ebay.
The value of the book is that an exhaustive collection of writers, artists and film-makers are gathered into one book (and yes, books are still more user friendly than wikipedia)and the whole genre is presented in a lively, considered and academic way. if you want to discover new novels, missed films and exotic artists, this is the book to have. Try ebay.
April 6, 2020
This and the companion The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction were indispensable in my bookshop. These two books made me appear much smarter than I really am (and they make great geek-out reading. People who own more than two dictionaries will probably know what I mean).
June 30, 2012
Well, I can't say that I've "read" it, per se'... it's an encyclopedia. But, I have read large portions of it and have pored over it for many a happy hour. John Clute has done an amazing job coming up with a reference that is truly "encyclopedic." Anyone who is truly serious about the genre of Fantasy ought to have it on their shelf.
January 30, 2025
This would be a fantastic reference work if only John Clute had stayed away from it. His entries are samples of the worst type of literary analysis - convoluted, riddled with jargon, and ultimately incomprehensible. And probably about half of the book was written by him. The other half is good, though.
October 24, 2008
Sure, I haven't read this entire book, but I've read some, and that... is excellent! Very useful and inspiring, in fact, the only problem is that its an encyclopedia from 1997...a lot of water has run under the bridge since then!
I wouldn't mind an updated version...please!
I wouldn't mind an updated version...please!
November 20, 2008
Good all around source. Includes infromation on authors as well as themese, styles, and stock characters.
May 13, 2009
This book should never be very far from you.
September 29, 2009
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy is a must have resource for the fan of Fantasy literature.
January 16, 2011
An indispensable book for anyone interested in the field.
April 20, 2013
Slightly less out-of-date than its sibling, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, and surprisingly broad. It's good to know that fantasy is more than just a sword and a smile.
June 29, 2014
Akhirnya tamat juga :))
February 15, 2021
Read review of "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction".
August 18, 2016
Simple really, the leader in authoritative knowledge on the subject.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews