Fantasy Literature Essay

br Fantasy Literature Essay Fantasy Literature Essay Stories of initiation (or coming-of-age ) are common in literature throughout the world famous examples such as '93A Tale of two Cities '94 or '93The Catcher in the Rye '94 are celebrated in English and American literature . However , by contrast , fewer examples of the initiation story in epic-fantasy are likewise elevated to this enduring stature . Two relatively modern , highly poignant , examples of the initiation story (or myth ) are J .R .R . Tolkien '92s The Lords of the Rings trilogy of novels and Michael Ende

'92snovel , The Neverending Story . Both titles are epic-fantasies which involved detailed imaginary , the initiation of young , untested heroes who must save these worlds from apocalyptic doom

Each of the tales employs an unconventional - '96 or unlikely - '96 hero and each involves an antagonist of loosely specified dimensions Allegory plays a role in both epics , although in neither case is the allegory strictly imposed rather , symbolism is archetypal , rather than directly allegorical , not only leaving the reader to experience the full impact of the symbolic associations , but encouraging the reader to identify deeply with the iconographies of the landscapes , characters names , and events . '93 The world of Middle-earth is marvelously rich in imaginative detail Tolkien draws on his knowledge of several mythologies and languages as well as his inventive powers to create a range of colorful and often memorable creatures[ . The story , the heroic journey to destroy the evil ring , is interesting because of the variety of places and creatures the heroes encounter (Hourihan 33

The same holds for Ende '92 storytelling capacity which lures the reader into deep participation by use of careful world-building and meta-fictional resonance . '93The major strategy is to place the implied reader inside the book : Bastian is a decidedly unheroic child of 10 or 12- Fantasy Literature Essay Page -2- fat , poor at sport and lessons , and a victim of school bullying , but with a passion for reading . He steals a wonderful book called The Neverending Story from a secondhand bookshop and becomes immersed in a tale about the land of Fantastica '94 (Hourihan 71

The Neverending Story features creative settings and creatures which are both entertaining and meant to add psychological depth and contrast to the events and scenes of the story . For example : the attic where Bastian reads his stolen book is a symbol for Bastian 's retreat into his own imagination

The land of Fantastica is archetypal : meant to symbolize the universal unconscious mind : distance in Fantastica is gauged - '96 not by physical proximity - '96 but by how distant or close one believes themselves to be from their desired destination . This indicates a landscaped of shred imagination , rather than a landscape with physical boundaries

Tolkien posits s similar contrast of the inner /outer mundane /magical worlds , although his technique is more somewhat more subtle than Ende '92s . Tolkien also plunges an uninitiated hero-to-be from once-comfortable or normal surroundings into a land of beauty and peril ...