Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature (2nd Edition) by Allen Stroud
I would like to thank the author for a copy of this work in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Rowman and Littlefield
Published – Out Now
Price – £154 hardback £146 Kindle ebook
Fantasy is a genre in motion, gradually expanding its reach and historical sources to embrace a global identity Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature, Second Edition is a snapshot of the genre in this moment, identifying new themes and sources that are emerging to inspire, enhance and invigorate the published works of fantasy writers.
A particular bugbear of me is how for many and I include some fantasy readers people think Lord of the Rings is the starting point and the template for the entirety of fantasy. This misses out the ancient history of the genreand the sheer variety of stories that fit within the fantasy umbrella. It’s very hard to wrap your arms around it to explain how big this genre now is. So I can definitely applaud Allen Stroud who in their Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature (2nd edition) brings a much needed exploration of the genre delivering an informative look at the genre and a powerful A-Z of fantasy in all its forms and key actors.
I was bemused a few weeks ago listening to a radio show on the British Library Fantasy exhibition where a snooty London critic sneered at the idea of fantasy having an ancient tradition. This makes me further question certain critic’s basic understanding of stories but in this work, Stroud is very much focused on giving the reader a more rounded view of the genre. The Dictionary gives us a very interesting chronology staying from the 23rd century BC and walking us from epics into more traditional types of published work. All clearly highlighting Hobbits are not the start. Then in Stroud’s Introduction we get a wider overview of the Dictionary’s purpose and a look at what fantasy means. Stroud acknowledges there is never going to be enough space for everything but this edition is focused on giving a sense of the broad areas of fantasy and those who worked within them as well as key concepts. Stroud notes the increasing recognition of non-Western fantasy being something that needs now to be captured too and that there is a need to reflect the less than savoury aspects of certain authors and their works finally being highlighted not lauded without question.
Stroud in the Introduction briskly walks us through the genre’s origins and later oral traditions before moving into the more modern form used today. Is it escapism or enforcing a society’s values? We get examinations of fantasy and its subsets of versions including my favourite the liminal. Stroud recognises that short-cuts are developing in readers who use familiar tropes as guidelines as to the type of book we are reading. There is a really interesting section within this on worldbuilding these huge ‘macrotexts’ that are a world’s canon. The extensions into this of concepts like fan fiction are even raised as a sign the genre is moving onwards and now the non-western form of fantasy story-telling is also having an impact. Its an impressive persuasive snapshot of an immense subject handled very well.
The wider Dictionary is both straightforward and HUGE. Each letter of the alphabet moves from a potted history of an author and their works, key terms and their definitions. Handily Stroud has in bold other terms you can find in the dictionary so you can play a rabbit-hole affect from a single entry - I recommend that approach just for the fun of it. If I pick a random letter of E we cross biographies of Harlan Ellison, Kate Elliott, Umbertco Eco, Amal El-Mohtar and get summaries of the terms Enchantment, Epic Erotic and Existentialist Fantasy! . It’s definitely got a welcome world-wide view of the genre and while some may try to read A-Z for a chaotic reader like me going in for random pages has been really interesting and there is a very useful Bibliography too filled with all sorts of tempting reads also aligned with authors.
This is very clearly an academic piece of work and for those who are seeking an easily accessible guide to terminology, authors and their associated works that this will be an extremely helpful to bolster their studies and research into this rich and dense field. I can see even as a simple blogger how the use of exploring some subjects for longer form articles would be beneficial. The more casual reader though would have to consider if such a purchase is worthwhile for casual reading. What comes across throughout is the care and focus that Stroud has given the subject and it delivers a much-needed revised focus of what 21st Fantasy and its history and future looks like.
