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FANTASY:HOW IT WORKS
An exciting and accessible study of the genre of fantasy.
One of the dominant modes of storytelling in the twenty-first century, fantasy can mirror contemporary experiences and convey our anxieties and longings better than any representation of the merely real. It is the lie that speaks truth. This book addresses two central questions about fantastic
storytelling: first, how can it be meaningful if it doesn't claim to represent things as they are, and second, what kind of change can it make in the world? How can a form of storytelling that alters physical laws and denies facts about the past be at the same time a source of insight into human
nature and the workings of the world? What kind of social, political, cultural, intellectual work does fantasy perform in the world--the world of the reader, that is, not that of the characters?
Focusing on various aspects of fantastic world-building and story creation in classic and contemporary fantasy, from the use of symbolic structures to the way new stories incorporate bits of significance from earlier texts, this book shows how fantasy allows writers such as Michael Cunningham, Hans
Christian Anderson, Helene Wecker, C. S. Lewis, Ursula K. Le Guin, Nnedi Okorafor, Nalo Hopkinson, George MacDonald, Aliette deBodard, and Patricia Wrightson to test new modes of understanding and interaction and thus to rethink political institutions, social practices, and models of reality.
One of the dominant modes of storytelling in the twenty-first century, fantasy can mirror contemporary experiences and convey our anxieties and longings better than any representation of the merely real. It is the lie that speaks truth. This book addresses two central questions about fantastic
storytelling: first, how can it be meaningful if it doesn't claim to represent things as they are, and second, what kind of change can it make in the world? How can a form of storytelling that alters physical laws and denies facts about the past be at the same time a source of insight into human
nature and the workings of the world? What kind of social, political, cultural, intellectual work does fantasy perform in the world--the world of the reader, that is, not that of the characters?
Focusing on various aspects of fantastic world-building and story creation in classic and contemporary fantasy, from the use of symbolic structures to the way new stories incorporate bits of significance from earlier texts, this book shows how fantasy allows writers such as Michael Cunningham, Hans
Christian Anderson, Helene Wecker, C. S. Lewis, Ursula K. Le Guin, Nnedi Okorafor, Nalo Hopkinson, George MacDonald, Aliette deBodard, and Patricia Wrightson to test new modes of understanding and interaction and thus to rethink political institutions, social practices, and models of reality.
208 pages, Hardcover
Published July 28, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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July 30, 2023Mnogo volim Ateberija, takoreći sam njegov fan broj jedan, ali ipak ovo nije knjiga koju bih preporučila za polaznu tačku upoznavanja s njegovim delom. Dobro je i toplo pisana, ima odličan balans starijih i novijih fantastičnih dela kojima se bavi, ima sjajne uvide, naročito u prvoj polovini, pa ipak se oseća neusklađenost pojedinih poglavlja koja nikako da sasvim kliknu unutar celine i kvare njenu ravnotežu. Vidim da su se pojedini komentatori žalili na manjak akademskog citiranja - meni to nije toliko smetalo, ali me izbacivalo iz toka čitanja što ga je u pojedinim poglavljima ipak bilo dosta, a u drugima malne uopšte ne. Možda bi ovoj knjizi čitalački ipak bilo bolje pristupiti kao kombinaciji jedne odlične veće uvodne studije (prvih pet poglavlja) i nekoliko kraćih promenljivog kvaliteta (sledećih četiri)?... A opet, i ne-baš-najbolji Ateberi daje nam više smernica, iskrica i nadahnuća za nova čitanja nego, eh, neki drugi teoretičari, da se ne frljam sad imenima :)
September 11, 2023
A thoughtful book with nice wide insights into the fantasy field as a whole, with good examples and general attention to historical transformations of the field and changing relationships to race class gender and larger scale politics.
For me,ever on the hunt for useful writing tools, the chapter on Conflict is the most useful, offering several alternative metaphors to use in fantasy. Instead of a conflict, what happens to the story if it’s a dance, or a dissonance, or friction, or occultation, or… all of which are active and can lead to useful structuring and useful (to borrow from Philip Pullman) image schemas.
For me,ever on the hunt for useful writing tools, the chapter on Conflict is the most useful, offering several alternative metaphors to use in fantasy. Instead of a conflict, what happens to the story if it’s a dance, or a dissonance, or friction, or occultation, or… all of which are active and can lead to useful structuring and useful (to borrow from Philip Pullman) image schemas.
June 15, 2023
Como em praticamente toda literatura teórica de Fantasia, há aqui uma ausência de profundidade nas estruturas do gênero: Como se moldam as narrativas? Como é o espaço? Como funcionam os personagens?
Discutir o poder das metáforas na Fantasia é ok, mas precisamos passar dessa fase e analisar estruturalmente. “Fantasia: Como funciona?” não explora nem 20% de como o gênero funciona.
Discutir o poder das metáforas na Fantasia é ok, mas precisamos passar dessa fase e analisar estruturalmente. “Fantasia: Como funciona?” não explora nem 20% de como o gênero funciona.
August 24, 2024
I struggled a bit with this book, as it was far more academic and less pragmatic than I was looking for. (I guess I should have read the synopsis more carefully!) I was hoping for more practical advice about writing fantasy, such as common (and uncommon) structures, required scenes, key tropes and expectations for various sub-genres, etc. I realize that information is out there, but I was hoping this book would pull a view of all that material together for me.
Instead, it was a scholarly exploration of a range of themes and ways that fantasy works to reveal the truth about the world and our lives. That is valuable, of course. Some thought-provoking questions and essays that I found interesting.
The author's too-narrow view of conflict as an engine of narrative change turned me off, however. In his view, "conflict" as a story metaphor generally means violence and requires violent resolution, but that is far too limited a view of the concept. Some of the other metaphors the author discussed are, IMO, just different ways to view conflict, because "conflict" as a concept of storytelling is much broader than just physical confrontation, and violence is only one way to resolve conflict. As readers, conflict is interesting because it motivates change in a narrative, and part of why we read is to find out how the conflict will be resolved. The author correctly points out that non-violent ways to resolve conflict make for interesting stories, but then says that those resolutions mean that conflict is not the correct metaphor for the story. I disagree, and to claim that adherents of the conflict engine metaphor limit themselves to violent resolution is a disservice to writers and readers.
Still, as much as I disagree with the author's position in that chapter, there is a lot of other interesting material here. It's scholarly work, so it's dense. No easy read, this.
Instead, it was a scholarly exploration of a range of themes and ways that fantasy works to reveal the truth about the world and our lives. That is valuable, of course. Some thought-provoking questions and essays that I found interesting.
The author's too-narrow view of conflict as an engine of narrative change turned me off, however. In his view, "conflict" as a story metaphor generally means violence and requires violent resolution, but that is far too limited a view of the concept. Some of the other metaphors the author discussed are, IMO, just different ways to view conflict, because "conflict" as a concept of storytelling is much broader than just physical confrontation, and violence is only one way to resolve conflict. As readers, conflict is interesting because it motivates change in a narrative, and part of why we read is to find out how the conflict will be resolved. The author correctly points out that non-violent ways to resolve conflict make for interesting stories, but then says that those resolutions mean that conflict is not the correct metaphor for the story. I disagree, and to claim that adherents of the conflict engine metaphor limit themselves to violent resolution is a disservice to writers and readers.
Still, as much as I disagree with the author's position in that chapter, there is a lot of other interesting material here. It's scholarly work, so it's dense. No easy read, this.
June 20, 2024
2/5
Dense and academic in the worst ways.
I'm seeming to not enjoy speeches that a writer turns into a book. I didn't much enjoy On Writers and Writing by Margaret Atwood either, but I preferred how she brought up the topics. She feels more conversational, while this book felt dense and academic, like it was part of some report.
There's interesting things in there, but it's too hard for me to slog through it. This would probably be much better as a talk, which is what they were originally. I could absorb all of this if I was in a lecture hall and not sitting reading it.
Didn't work for me and I don't think I'll give it a second chance. The cover really sold me, and he's obviously respected in the Fantasy community, but I don't like his delivery.
Dense and academic in the worst ways.
I'm seeming to not enjoy speeches that a writer turns into a book. I didn't much enjoy On Writers and Writing by Margaret Atwood either, but I preferred how she brought up the topics. She feels more conversational, while this book felt dense and academic, like it was part of some report.
There's interesting things in there, but it's too hard for me to slog through it. This would probably be much better as a talk, which is what they were originally. I could absorb all of this if I was in a lecture hall and not sitting reading it.
Didn't work for me and I don't think I'll give it a second chance. The cover really sold me, and he's obviously respected in the Fantasy community, but I don't like his delivery.
September 21, 2024
Very interesting takes on how fantasy works, with many examples from some of the best fantasy authors. However, the book covers very much the author's perspective, and his personal experience with the topics covered, which means that some parts are one-sided. Most noticeably the chapter on gender in fantasy. Also, while it might not be all that relevant to the purpose of the book, some prejudiced views on immigrants shine through here and there.
It works as a course book and has some interesting ideas, but should not be used as your only source of research on the topic.
It works as a course book and has some interesting ideas, but should not be used as your only source of research on the topic.
February 4, 2025
A bit too academic for me with too many references in some places. I found the first essay on fantasy as a form of storytelling really thought provoking - 'fantasy is a lie that speaks truths'
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July 7, 2023Absolutely exquisitely necessary.
August 13, 2022
Fantasy, How it works.
It’s by Brian Attebery so of course it’s worth reading.
However, it does read like several thought experiment essays and as such, there were times when I felt he was taking a lot for granted in terms of what his readers would know both of fantasy, and of his own work. The result was very cosy, but at times impenetrable because he starts from a thought and you are just expected to follow the thought (but sometimes I disagreed and the tendency to Reason rather than evidence meant I got derailed by my own disagreement).
Attebery argues for diversity while still retaining his core and margins metaphor from Strategies of Fantasy, and I don’t think it’s sustainable (I’m not convinced it ever really was, we accepted it because he writes so well and convincingly). In this book it has the effect of painting the fantastic as drawing in from other cultures, rather than being redefined so that the fantastic is a part of all cultures. I can tell he doesn’t mean this from statements in the Key Theses (see below) but I really think it’s just time to ditch this entire idea of a core.
At the end of the book is a list of Key Theses from each chapter and I rather wish Attebery had posted them at the start of each chapter (the way Diana Wynne Jones does in Archers’ Goon) as I think both following and arguing would have been a lot simpler.
My only other criticism of this otherwise, really interesting ,set of essays, is the overreliance on LeGuin. What made sense in 1980 is beginning to feel a bit wearing. It made the inclusion of other authors (in the YA chapter for example) seem a little token. It’s not that LeGuin is not important and useful, but for Attebery she is always the first choice when he’s looking for a quotation or critique or example.
Minor niggles: a few times he quotes people or describes their arguments and there is no citation. This is clearly because they are friends of his, but it contributes to the ‘cosy’ feeling in a not good way.
A few extra thoughts:
If you want a domestic Utopian fantasy try Lifelode by Jo Walton.
The erasure of Ruth Manning-Sanders, once one of the most prolific of fairy tale anthologists, from the collective memory is thoroughly bizarre (only one other person at the Once and Future Fantasies conference recognised her) and needs to be rectified immediately: no one reading her stories of practical maidservants and brave sisters, could have grown up assuming women in fairy tales were passive.
Re Mike Levy’s comment on children like dystopias because they’ve grown up in them (one of the unreferenced quotes). I argued with Mike a lot about this. I think modern children like modern dystopias because in those YA dystopias children are empowered to be saviours. I see no evidence that young readers like dystopias in which everything ends really really badly. (see The Inter-Galactic Playground, 2009).
It’s by Brian Attebery so of course it’s worth reading.
However, it does read like several thought experiment essays and as such, there were times when I felt he was taking a lot for granted in terms of what his readers would know both of fantasy, and of his own work. The result was very cosy, but at times impenetrable because he starts from a thought and you are just expected to follow the thought (but sometimes I disagreed and the tendency to Reason rather than evidence meant I got derailed by my own disagreement).
Attebery argues for diversity while still retaining his core and margins metaphor from Strategies of Fantasy, and I don’t think it’s sustainable (I’m not convinced it ever really was, we accepted it because he writes so well and convincingly). In this book it has the effect of painting the fantastic as drawing in from other cultures, rather than being redefined so that the fantastic is a part of all cultures. I can tell he doesn’t mean this from statements in the Key Theses (see below) but I really think it’s just time to ditch this entire idea of a core.
At the end of the book is a list of Key Theses from each chapter and I rather wish Attebery had posted them at the start of each chapter (the way Diana Wynne Jones does in Archers’ Goon) as I think both following and arguing would have been a lot simpler.
My only other criticism of this otherwise, really interesting ,set of essays, is the overreliance on LeGuin. What made sense in 1980 is beginning to feel a bit wearing. It made the inclusion of other authors (in the YA chapter for example) seem a little token. It’s not that LeGuin is not important and useful, but for Attebery she is always the first choice when he’s looking for a quotation or critique or example.
Minor niggles: a few times he quotes people or describes their arguments and there is no citation. This is clearly because they are friends of his, but it contributes to the ‘cosy’ feeling in a not good way.
A few extra thoughts:
If you want a domestic Utopian fantasy try Lifelode by Jo Walton.
The erasure of Ruth Manning-Sanders, once one of the most prolific of fairy tale anthologists, from the collective memory is thoroughly bizarre (only one other person at the Once and Future Fantasies conference recognised her) and needs to be rectified immediately: no one reading her stories of practical maidservants and brave sisters, could have grown up assuming women in fairy tales were passive.
Re Mike Levy’s comment on children like dystopias because they’ve grown up in them (one of the unreferenced quotes). I argued with Mike a lot about this. I think modern children like modern dystopias because in those YA dystopias children are empowered to be saviours. I see no evidence that young readers like dystopias in which everything ends really really badly. (see The Inter-Galactic Playground, 2009).
January 22, 2025
Attebery trae a colación nuevas formas de reconocer el poder la literatura de fantasía en nuestros días, no solo con lecturas más contemporáneas, sino recurriendo también a los clásicos, cuya validez se sigue sosteniendo por la fuerza de sus ideas y las interpretaciones que despiden en los lectores. A través de estos ensayos encontramos algunos mecanismos de exploración, análisis y tópicos que podrían ampliar tanto al entusiasta de los registros no miméticos como al que no tenga tanto contacto con ellas. Como todo libro de crítica literaria no revela a ciencia cierta alguna verdad universal, sino que ofrece, contagia y propone vías de encuentro hacia la imaginación y los cuentos de hadas. Desde las formas en la que la Fantasía puede "significar", paseándose por la vocación demiúrgica de la construcción poética del mundo secundario, hasta involucrar sus propios tópicos con la política y la subversión, Attebery diserta con ejemplos -muy anecdótico, aviso- en pro de abrir puertas de interpretación.
Buen libro para seguir ahondando en una crítica literaria de la Fantasía en nuestros tiempos.
Buen libro para seguir ahondando en una crítica literaria de la Fantasía en nuestros tiempos.
August 3, 2024
A deep dive into the workings of fantasy tales from ancient times to the present asking not only how they work to reflect society but how they can change society.
Dense and thoroughly researched, reflecting a lifetime of reading. To be honest, I browsed through this, reading the parts about books I'd read (many!) but not really taking it in.
Dense and thoroughly researched, reflecting a lifetime of reading. To be honest, I browsed through this, reading the parts about books I'd read (many!) but not really taking it in.
September 16, 2024
It's very interesting to see how things have progressed from Strategies of Fantasy (1992) until now. You'll need quite a thorough background in fantasy literature in general, and Attebery's previous works, in particular, to get the most out of this, but I found it very useful.
March 4, 2024
I wish the chapters were better structured. At one point you can't see the difference between the topics and everything just becomes one. Its quite badly made in that sense
May 20, 2024
Perfect to convince my parents to get me more books
May 30, 2024
mostly very good. i think attebery is well-meaning but ill-equipped to interrogate race and gender in a way that's interesting to me beyond thin axes of privilege representation and inclusivity
May 13, 2025
Definitely not for casual readers like me 😅 It's a very academic breakdown of the fantasy genre that went over my head a little bit, but an interesting read nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews