{"product_id":"fantasy-a-short-history-9781350407824","title":"Fantasy: A Short History","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of the most popular genres of modern times, fantasy literature has as rich a cultural and literary heritage as the magical worlds that so enrapture its readers. In this book, a concise history of the genre, Adam Roberts traces the central forms and influences on fantasy through the centuries to arrive at our understanding of the fantastic today.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Pinning the evolution of fantasy on three key moments - the 19th-century resurgence of interest in Arthurian legend, the rise of Christian allegory, and a post-Ossian, post-Grimm emergence of a Norse, Germanic and Old English mythic identity - Roberts explores how the logic of 'the fantastical' feeds through into the sets and trappings of modern fantasy. Tracking the creation of heroic and high fantasy subgenres through antiquarian tradition, through C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien and into the post-Tolkien boom in genre fantasy writing, the book brings the manifestation of the fantastic beyond literature into art, music, film and TV, video games and other cultural productions such as fandoms. From Tennyson and Wagner, through Robert Graves, David Jones, Samuel Delany, \u003ci\u003eDungeons and Dragons\u003c\/i\u003e, Terry Pratchett and Robin Hobb, to the \u003ci\u003eGame of Thrones\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSkyrim\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Witcher\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Lord of the Rings \u003c\/i\u003emedia franchises, the book digs into the global dissemination and diversity of 21st-century fantasy. Accessible and dynamic, wide-ranging but comprehensive, this is a crash-course in context for the most imaginative form of storytelling.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdam Roberts\u003c\/b\u003e is an award-winning writer, critic and scholar. He is the author of 12 science fiction novels and stories and he has written for \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e The Times\u003c\/i\u003e. Professor in Nineteenth Century Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, he has published numerous scholarly works such as \u003ci\u003eThe History of Science Fiction \u003c\/i\u003e(2016) and \u003ci\u003eThe Riddles of the Hobbit\u003c\/i\u003e (2013).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51321627509010,"sku":"9781350407824","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_6d5f9253-0d38-4f3b-8741-7024f278cbd0.jpg?v=1748591784","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/fantasy-a-short-history-9781350407824","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}