The genre of magic and supernaturalism, Fantasy fictions, is enjoyed by both children and adults because of their imaginary quality and fantastical elements. The authors of fantasy fiction books create an environment where the readers' sense of disbelief is suspended and supernatural elements appear natural; the improbable appears probable and the magical appears real. Besides catering to our imagination, Fantasy Fiction Books in the modern times can be analyzed from Freudian philosophy where the supernatural actions are interpreted as the workings of inner psyche.
Modern fantasy fiction writings have begun with the Scottish novelist George MacDonald. He has contributed to children's fantasy fiction The Princess and the Goblin and produced the first fantasy novel for the adults Phantastes. MacDonald has influenced other creators of modern fantasy fictions like The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and The Chronicles of Narnia , The Lion and The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. William Morris, the author of The Well at the World's End , has been another English poet in the second half of 19 th Century who helped in popularizing the modern fantasy fiction writings.
Besides the effort of MacDonald and Morris, Edward Plunkett has played a major role in establishing the popularity of this genre in the 20 th Century. Many other authors who have successfully contributed in flourishing modern fantasy fiction writings are H. Rider Haggard, Abraham Merritt, Rudyard Kipling and Edgar Rice Burroughs. These notable authors have revived the tradition of fantasy fiction popularly known as the sub-genre the “ lost world ”.
Modern fantasy fiction books
- Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series
- Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain
- Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid
- C. Dean Andersson's Bloodsong trilogy
- Piers Anthony's Xanth
- K.A. Applegate's Everworld
- Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld
- William Morris's The Well at the World's End
- J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan
- L.F. Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- Nathaniel Hawthorne's A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
- Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian
- Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories
- S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia
- Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea
In 1923, the first
fantasy fiction magazine Weird Tales was published followed by other magazines like
The Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction. The
popularity of modern fantasy fiction books increased in the 21 st Century with publications like
J .
K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. In the postmodern literatures, fantasy genre has advanced to form sub-genres like
magic realism by authors like Marquez in
One Hundred Years of Solitude and Rushdie in
Midnight's Children .
