Fantasy

Fantasy literature is a genre of narrative fiction that grows out of supernatural elements, like magic.

History

Characteristics of Fantasy

Sub-genres

Portal
Secondary World
Epic Fantasy
Sword and Sorcery
Urban Fantasy
Folklore

Folklore comes from tales passed down by word of mouth. It’s made up of informal expressions passed around long enough to have become recurrent in form and content, but changeable in performance.[1] This subgenre consist of myths, legends, fables, and fairytales. Myth is that which occurs in time-out-of-time. A myth is concerned with why the world is the way it is, and so unfolds in a setting that is distinct from time or place as it’s currently recognized.[2] Its stories from every culture, that, for centuries have explained natural phenomena and answered questions people have about the human condition: origin and creation stories, stories about life, death and life after death.[3] Legend occurs in “historical time” though it typically mixes fact with fiction. Usually with legends there is doubt about its credibility. They are unexplainable tales warped by the human imagination. A legend can be either about a person or a place. For example, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Atlantis are all types of legends. Fables are described as a didactic lesson given through some sort of animal story.[4] In Western society, the most common fables are by Aesop, consisting of short stories like The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Ant and the Grasshopper. Fairytales are short stories, typically with no author, but it still can be recognized despite many variations of the story. A fairytale is similar to myths, legends and fables. It can be either told orally or in text, the content of the story can come from historical content, and usually have a moral at the end of the story. Fairytales typically feature European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments.[5] These type of stories withstand long periods of time because they are and embodiment of a culture, contain fundamental human truths by which people have lived for centuries, or they are simply entertaining.[6]