I decided to do a subgenre study on high fantasy for this assignment. I have always enjoyed fantasy stories since my love of reading began under the influence of books such as Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Redwall, Harry Potter, and Eragon. Over the last couple years I have become fascinated by the in depth worlds that some of the best fantasy writers have been able to create. The fascination really started back in the beginning of 2017 when I not only reread the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time in more than a decade, but I consumed the entire Silmarilion book (which is essentially the in depth history book slash bible of the world that The Lord of the Rings takes place in). It was an incredibly dry read, but when I finally finished it, I could not believe how much I felt a part of that world. (I also felt INCREDIBLY nerdy and still sometimes have a hard time admitting to people that I went that in depth into that world!)
The other inspiration for this paper was that one of my best friends has recently started writing his own high fantasy novel and asked me to be his editor/ideas man/reviewer for this project. It has been incredibly interesting so far as we have been working to first create the world that his stories will take place in, complete with its own mythology and unique races and characters. He has a hand drawn map and is currently working on giving a name and backstory to each region, city, and town! To help in my role with this project, I felt a personal study of the genre could only be beneficial as we continue building this new world.
The paper itself begins with a brief summary of high fantasy: the defining feature of the story taking place in a world different from our own. The history of high fantasy is relatively new and it's entrance to the spotlight began directly after World War Two. Two of the most influential authors: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien had their works published in the 50s and 60s. The rise of Dungeons and Dragons in the 70s and 80s, which was directly influenced from the work of Tolkien, began to evolve the genre into its grittier and darker form we know from today. Several of the most influential writers of modern high fantasy all were Dungeons and Dragons gamers: Terry Pratchett, Steven Erikson, and George R.R. Martin.
Also included in the paper is a list of annotated resources and titles and authors that someone in a readers' advisory position would find useful in order to learn more about the sub-genre itself, as well as having a list of books to turn to if an interested patron came asking for recommendations.
I've been a Tolkien fan since forever ago but only in my 20s did I find 'The Road to Middle-Earth' by Tom Shippey, who succeeded Tolkien in his professional capacity at Oxford. If you're interested in the mechanics and history of Tolkien I highly recommend it. Also, re: D&D--do you know about the streaming live games that are now popular on platforms like Twitch? It's high fantasy at an incredibly interesting rate/scale. There are even shows with professional actors who play for hours at a time in the setting of high fantasy but... improvised. So great.
ReplyDelete