FANTASY FOR TODAYS CHILD

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FANTASY FOR TODAYS CHILD

• LIS 5183, Meeting 7
• Terri Street, Adjunct Professor
• Summer, 2008

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Fantasy for Todays Child

• Value of fantasy
• Critical to an understanding of self
• Reveals new insights into reality
• Endures (if well-written)
• Helps develop imagination
• Satisfies modern-day hunger for myth

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Fantasy for Todays Child, cont.

• Diverse
• Roots in earlier sources
• Dependent genre
• Stories lean on stories
• Borrow directly from folklore
• Characters
• Motifs
• Speaks to deepest needs, darkest fears, highest
  hopes.

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Modern Fairy Tales

• Utilize folklore fairy tale form
• Identifiable authors
• Hans Christian Andersen
• Father of modern fairy tales
• Social commentary
• Included negative topics

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Modern Fantasy

• Means more than it says
• Metaphorical commentary on society
• Deeper meanings

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Evaluating Modern Fantasy, cont.

• What fantasy elements are in the story?
• How has the author made the story believable?
• Is the story logical and consistent within the
  framework established by the author?

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Evaluating Modern Fantasy, cont.

• Is the plot original and ingenious?
• Is there a universal truth underlying the
  metaphor of the fantasy?
• How does the story compare with other books of
  the same kind or by the same author?

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Forms of Modern Fantasy

• Animal fantasy
• World of toys and dolls
• Eccentric characters and preposterous situations
• Extraordinary worlds
• Magical powers
• Suspense and the supernatural

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Forms of Modern Fantasy, cont.

• Time-shift fantasy
• Imaginary realms
• High fantasy
• Struggle between good and evil
• Quests and adventures

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Fantasy v. Science Fiction

• Fantasy
• Never was and never could be
• Is not bound by the rules of physics
• Science Fiction
• Speculates on possible worlds
• Sylvia Engdahls suggestion
• Real hypothesis

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Relevance of SciFi

• Speculate on future technology
• Beyond present knowledge
• Detailed description adds to believability
• Consistency vital
• Must consider ethical and social implications

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Value and Appeal of SciFi

• Develops
• Imagination and intuition
• Speculation and improvisation
• Ethics
• Technology

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Trends in SciFi

• Early
• Aliens
• Intergalactic warfare
• Little thought to theme, character development
• Modern
• Emotional and psychological consequences

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Types of SciFi

• Through the door
• Entry level
• Non-purist definition
• Some scifi trappings
• Robots
• Space travel
• Futuristic
• Scientific terminology
• No weighty themes

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Types of SciFi

• Visitors to Earth
• TV and movies acclimatized
• Willing to suspend disbelief
• Prepared to consider dilemmas
• Gilmore, Kate. Exchange Student.
• Service, Pamela. Stinker from Space.
• Key, Alexander. The Forgotten Door.

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Types of SciFi

• Outer Space and Cyberspace
• See own world from different perspective
• Link to historical fiction
• Colonization
• Oppression
• Klause, Annette. Alien Secrets.
• Nature of reality
• Cross, Gillian. New World.

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Types of SciFi

• Future views
• Complex hypotheses
• Disaster aftermath
• Other life forms interaction
• Time alteration
• Essential human traits
• Clear distinction between reality and science
  fiction world

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Types of SciFi

• Blended
• Contemporary realism and science fiction
• Focus on CRF motifs with
• Speculation about human actions that dramatically
  alter future

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In Summary

• The ability to change lives is the power of
  such good writing. Fantasy and science fiction
  for children need no defense. These lasting books
  can speak for our time and the times to come.
  They stretch childrens imaginations, present our
  own world in a new perspective, and ask readers
  to consider how present actions might affect
  Earths ecological, political, and social
  future. - Huck