103-510: Heaven Cent is a fantasy novel by American writer Piers Anthony , the eleventh book of the Xanth series. It is the second book of a trilogy beginning with Vale of the Vole and ending with Man from Mundania . The protagonist of Heaven Cent is Prince Dolph, shapeshifting son of King Dor and Queen Irene and younger brother of Princess Ivy. The story begins with Dolph, a pre-teen, setting out on
206-428: A "parallel products of a literate society". All ancient Greek literature was to some degree oral in nature, and the earliest literature was completely so. Homer 's epic poetry, states Michael Gagarin, was largely composed, performed and transmitted orally. As folklores and legends were performed in front of distant audiences, the singers would substitute the names in the stories with local characters or rulers to give
309-412: A Quest with his designated Adult Companion Marrow Bones to locate the magician Humfrey, who had been missing since Vale of the Vole . The story begins with Prince Dolph lying in his sister, Ivy's, bed watching her magical tapestry which shows images from the past and present of Xanth . Dolph is the son of King Dor and Queen Irene, and he has the powerful talent of being able to shapeshift, giving him
412-557: A Roman audience saw a Latin version of a Greek play. Literature in Latin would flourish for the next six centuries, and includes essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings. The Qur'an (610 AD to 632 AD), the main holy book of Islam , had a significant influence on the Arab language, and marked the beginning of Islamic literature . Muslims believe it was transcribed in the Arabic dialect of
515-483: A chapter of his book English Prose Style (1928) to discussing "Fantasy" as an aspect of literature, arguing it was unjustly considered suitable only for children: "The Western World does not seem to have conceived the necessity of Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups". In 1938, with the publication of The Sword in the Stone , T. H. White introduced one of the most notable works of comic fantasy . The first major contribution to
618-432: A context without the use of writing to record and preserve history, scientific knowledge, and social practices. While some stories were told for amusement and leisure, most functioned as practical lessons from tribal experience applied to immediate moral, social, psychological, and environmental issues. Stories fuse fictional, supernatural, or otherwise exaggerated characters and circumstances with real emotions and morals as
721-480: A fellow English professor with a similar array of interests, also helped to publicize the fantasy genre. Tove Jansson , author of The Moomins , was also a strong contributor to the popularity of fantasy literature in the field of children and adults. The tradition established by these predecessors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has continued to thrive and be adapted by new authors. The influence of J.R.R. Tolkien's fiction has—particularly over
824-466: A magical sleep for 900 years of a 1000-year sentence. The sleeping maiden is named Electra, and she was put under the sleeping spell because 900 years ago she accidentally activated the Heaven Cent. Dolph kisses the sleeping Electra and awakens her, but to Dolph's surprise Electra cannot survive unless she marries the person who broke the spell on her. Once the entire party returns to Castle Roogna Dolph
927-405: A means of teaching. Plots often reflect real life situations and may be aimed at particular people known by the story's audience. In this way, social pressure could be exerted without directly causing embarrassment or social exclusion . For example, rather than yelling, Inuit parents might deter their children from wandering too close to the water's edge by telling a story about a sea monster with
1030-576: A more dependable method of recording and presenting transactions in a permanent form. Though in both ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica , writing may have already emerged because of the need to record historical and environmental events. Subsequent innovations included more uniform, predictable legal systems , sacred texts , and the origins of modern practices of scientific inquiry and knowledge-consolidation , all largely reliant on portable and easily reproducible forms of writing. Ancient Egyptian literature , along with Sumerian literature , are considered
1133-581: A particular subject. Developments in print technology have allowed an ever-growing distribution and proliferation of written works, while the digital era had blurred the lines between online electronic literature and other forms of modern media. Definitions of literature have varied over time. In Western Europe, prior to the 18th century, literature denoted all books and writing. It can be seen as returning to older, more inclusive notions, so that cultural studies , for instance, include, in addition to canonical works , popular and minority genres . The word
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#17328519585291236-531: A pouch for children within its reach. The enduring significance of oral traditions is underscored in a systemic literature review on indigenous languages in South Africa, within the framework of contemporary linguistic challenges. Oral literature is crucial for cultural preservation, linguistic diversity, and social justice, as evidenced by the postcolonial struggles and ongoing initiatives to safeguard and promote South African indigenous languages. Oratory or
1339-431: A quest, but as long as he takes with him an adult companion. After some debate and arguing over who should accompany Dolph, Dolph suggests that Marrow Bones accompany him. Marrow is a walking, talking skeleton who has the ability to transform his skeletal body into many shapes as long as Dolph gives him a good kick in the tail bone first. Once Dolph and Marrow set out on their journey they realize their first stop must be at
1442-465: A role in an individual's psychological development. Psychologists have also been using literature as a therapeutic tool. Psychologist Hogan argues for the value of the time and emotion that a person devotes to understanding a character's situation in literature; that it can unite a large community by provoking universal emotions, as well as allowing readers access to different cultures, and new emotional experiences. One study, for example, suggested that
1545-409: Is "what is literature?" – although many contemporary theorists and literary scholars believe either that "literature" cannot be defined or that it can refer to any use of language. Literary fiction is a term used to describe fiction that explores any facet of the human condition , and may involve social commentary . It is often regarded as having more artistic merit than genre fiction , especially
1648-516: Is a "minimum age constraint for human presence in Victoria ", and also could be interpreted as evidence for the oral histories of the Gunditjmara people, an Aboriginal Australian people of south-western Victoria, which tell of volcanic eruptions being some of the oldest oral traditions in existence. An axe found underneath volcanic ash in 1947 had already proven that humans inhabited the region before
1751-427: Is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment . It can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role. Literary criticism is one of the oldest academic disciplines, and is concerned with the literary merit or intellectual significance of specific texts. The study of books and other texts as artifacts or traditions is instead encompassed by textual criticism or
1854-641: Is also used in reference to non-written works: to " oral literature " and "the literature of preliterate culture". Etymologically , the term derives from Latin literatura/litteratura , "learning, writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from litera/littera , "letter." In spite of this, the term has also been applied to spoken or sung texts. Literature is often referred to synecdochically as "writing," especially creative writing , and poetically as "the craft of writing" (or simply "the craft"). Syd Field described his discipline, screenwriting , as "a craft that occasionally rises to
1957-416: Is believed to have been recited or sung, employed as a way of remembering history , genealogy , and law. In Asia, the transmission of folklore, mythologies as well as scriptures in ancient India, in different Indian religions, was by oral tradition, preserved with precision with the help of elaborate mnemonic techniques . The early Buddhist texts are also generally believed to be of oral tradition, with
2060-637: Is considered a genre of speculative fiction and is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes, respectively, though these may overlap. Historically, most works of fantasy were in written form , but since the 1960s, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films , television programs , graphic novels , video games , music and art. Many fantasy novels originally written for children and adolescents also attract an adult audience. Examples include Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ,
2163-480: Is left with the decision about what to do with his two betrothed women. After much debate with both women and the King and Queen, Dolph asks for the test of the roses. Dolph chooses the yellow rose for Electra showing friendship and the red rose for Nada representing love. Electra is the first of the betrothed to attempt the test and she quickly chooses the red rose for Dolph representing love. Nada goes second and tries to pick
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#17328519585292266-426: Is too bland or simplistic creates the impression that the fantasy setting is simply a modern world in disguise, and presents examples of clear, effective fantasy writing in brief excerpts from Tolkien and Evangeline Walton . Michael Moorcock observed that many writers use archaic language for its sonority and to lend color to a lifeless story. Brian Peters writes that in various forms of fairytale fantasy , even
2369-501: The Harry Potter series, The Chronicles of Narnia , and The Hobbit . Stories involving magic and terrible monsters have existed in spoken forms before the advent of printed literature. Classical mythology is replete with fantastical stories and characters, the best known (and perhaps the most relevant to modern fantasy) being the works of Homer (Greek) and Virgil (Roman). The philosophy of Plato has had great influence on
2472-619: The Kalevala , they compiled existing folklore into an epic to match other nation's, and sometimes, as in The Poems of Ossian , they fabricated folklore that should have been there. These works, whether fairy tale, ballads, or folk epics, were a major source for later fantasy works. The Romantic interest in medievalism also resulted in a revival of interest in the literary fairy tale. The tradition begun with Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile and developed by Charles Perrault and
2575-453: The Age of Enlightenment . Many of Perrault's tales became fairy tale staples and were influential to later fantasy. When d'Aulnoy termed her works contes de fée (fairy tales), she invented the term that is now generally used for the genre, thus distinguishing such tales from those involving no marvels. This approach influenced later writers who took up the folk fairy tales in the same manner during
2678-523: The Elizabethan era in England , fantasy literature became extraordinarily popular and fueled populist and anti-authoritarian sentiment during the 1590s . Topics that were written about included " fairylands in which the sexes traded places [and] men and immortals mingl[ing]". Romanticism , a movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, was a dramatic reaction to rationalism, challenging
2781-618: The Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age . The period between approximately the 6th to 1st centuries BC saw the composition and redaction of the two most influential Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana , with subsequent redaction progressing down to the 4th century AD such as Ramcharitmanas . The earliest known Greek writings are Mycenaean ( c. 1600 –1100 BC), written in
2884-555: The Linear B syllabary on clay tablets. These documents contain prosaic records largely concerned with trade (lists, inventories, receipts, etc.); no real literature has been discovered. Michael Ventris and John Chadwick , the original decipherers of Linear B, state that literature almost certainly existed in Mycenaean Greece , but it was either not written down or, if it was, it was on parchment or wooden tablets, which did not survive
2987-661: The Middle East has been influential in the West since it was translated from the Arabic into French in 1704 by Antoine Galland . Many imitations were written, especially in France. The Fornaldarsagas , Norse and Icelandic sagas , both of which are based on ancient oral tradition influenced the German Romantics, as well as William Morris , and J. R. R. Tolkien . The Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf has also had deep influence on
3090-881: The Quraysh , the tribe of Muhammad . As Islam spread, the Quran had the effect of unifying and standardizing Arabic. Theological works in Latin were the dominant form of literature in Europe typically found in libraries during the Middle Ages . Western Vernacular literature includes the Poetic Edda and the sagas , or heroic epics, of Iceland, the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf , and the German Song of Hildebrandt . A later form of medieval fiction
3193-529: The Romantic era . Several fantasies aimed at an adult readership were also published in 18th century France, including Voltaire 's " contes philosophique " The Princess of Babylon (1768) and The White Bull (1774). This era, however, was notably hostile to fantasy. Writers of the new types of fiction such as Defoe , Richardson , and Fielding were realistic in style, and many early realistic works were critical of fantastical elements in fiction. However, in
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3296-559: The Vedas , dating back to 1500–1000 BC, and continues with the Sanskrit Epics of Iron Age India . The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts . The Samhitas (vedic collections) date to roughly 1500–1000 BC, and the "circum-Vedic" texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000 ‒500 BC, resulting in a Vedic period , spanning the mid-2nd to mid-1st millennium BC, or
3399-723: The Vedas , the Torah , the Bible, and the Quran . The King James Version of the Bible has been called "the most influential version of the most influential book in the world, in what is now its most influential language", "the most important book in English religion and culture", and "arguably the most celebrated book in the English-speaking world ," principally because of its literary style and widespread distribution. Prominent atheist figures such as
3502-603: The destruction of the Mycenaean palaces in the twelfth century BC . Homer 's epic poems , the Iliad and the Odyssey , are central works of ancient Greek literature . It is generally accepted that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century BC. Modern scholars consider these accounts legendary . Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally . From antiquity until
3605-412: The history of the book . "Literature", as an art form, is sometimes used synonymously with literary fiction , fiction written with the goal of artistic merit , but can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography , diaries , memoirs , letters , and essays . Within this broader definition, literature includes non-fictional books , articles, or other written information on
3708-696: The invention of printing . Prior to printing, distributed works were copied manually, by scribes . The Chinese inventor Bi Sheng made movable type of earthenware c. 1045 and was spread to Korea later. Around 1230, Koreans invented a metal type movable printing. East metal movable type was spread to Europe between the late 14th century and early 15th century. In c. 1450 , Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type in Europe. This invention gradually made books less expensive to produce and more widely available. Early printed books, single sheets, and images created before 1501 in Europe are known as incunables or incunabula . "A man born in 1453,
3811-399: The utilitarians and Benthamites , promoted the possibility of including courses in English literary study in the newly formed London University ". This further developed into the idea of the study of literature being "the ideal carrier for the propagation of the humanist cultural myth of a well educated, culturally harmonious nation". The widespread education of women was not common until
3914-552: The "First Terrible Fate that Awaiteth Unwary Beginners in Fantasy", alluding to young writers attempting to write in Lord Dunsany's style. According to S. T. Joshi , "Dunsany's work had the effect of segregating fantasy—a mode whereby the author creates his own realm of pure imagination—from supernatural horror. From the foundations he established came the later work of E. R. Eddison , Mervyn Peake , and J. R. R. Tolkien. In Britain in
4017-565: The European Romantic era. Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) is the first major English woman novelist, while Aphra Behn is an early female dramatist. Nobel Prizes in Literature have been awarded between 1901 and 2020 to 117 individuals: 101 men and 16 women. Selma Lagerlöf (1858 – 1940) was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature , which she was awarded in 1909. Additionally, she
4120-553: The European canon of Romantic literature , there is one notable exception, the French novelist and memoirist Amantine Dupin (1804 – 1876) best known by her pen name George Sand . One of the more popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, being more renowned than both Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac in England in the 1830s and 1840s, Sand is recognised as one of the most notable writers of
4223-556: The French précieuses was taken up by the German Romantic movement. The German author Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué created medieval-set stories such as Undine (1811) and Sintram and his Companions (1815), which would later inspire British writers such as George MacDonald and William Morris . E.T.A. Hoffmann 's tales, such as The Golden Pot (1814) and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816) were notable additions to
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4326-482: The Good Magician Humfrey's castle to investigate for any clues to his disappearance. Once in the castle Dolph and Marrow find a hidden room that can only be viewed through a clear rock from above. In the hidden room is a message that reads "Skeleton Key to Heaven Cent". Marrow distinguishes that there is a pun in the message, and a Skeleton Key is really an island made of coral. So Dolph and Marrow set out to find
4429-653: The Grand Historian , c. 94 BC ). Ancient Chinese literature had a heavy emphasis on historiography, with often very detailed court records. An exemplary piece of narrative history of ancient China was the Zuo Zhuan , which was compiled no later than 389 BC, and attributed to the blind 5th-century BC historian Zuo Qiuming . In ancient India , literature originated from stories that were originally orally transmitted. Early genres included drama , fables , sutras and epic poetry . Sanskrit literature begins with
4532-417: The Heaven Cent, and their romantic relationship blossoms until Nada reveals to Dolph that she is actually many years older than he is. Although Dolph is taken aback by this information, his love for Nada does not waver and he keeps the betrothal intact. When Dolph, Marrow, and Nada finally find the right island where the Heaven Cent is supposed to be they encounter a magical castle where a maiden has been under
4635-521: The Latin littera , "letter," essentially writing. Alternatives such as "oral forms" and "oral genres" have been suggested, but the word literature is widely used. Australian Aboriginal culture has thrived on oral traditions and oral histories passed down through tens of thousands of years. In a study published in February 2020, new evidence showed that both Budj Bim and Tower Hill volcanoes erupted between 34,000 and 40,000 years ago. Significantly, this
4738-521: The Southwest Wind an irascible but kindly character similar to J.R.R. Tolkien 's later Gandalf . The history of modern fantasy literature began with George MacDonald, author of such novels as The Princess and the Goblin (1868) and Phantastes (1868), the latter of which is widely considered to be the first fantasy novel written for adults. MacDonald also wrote one of the first critical essays about
4841-677: The Vampire ), a collection of various fantasy tales set within a frame story is, according to Richard Francis Burton and Isabel Burton , "the germ which culminated in the Arabian Nights , and which also inspired the Golden Ass of Apuleius , (2nd century A.D). Boccaccio 's Decamerone (c.1353) the Pentamerone (1634, 1636) and all that class of facetious fictitious literature." The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) from
4944-529: The aftermath of World War I, a notably large number of fantasy books aimed at an adult readership were published, including Living Alone (1919) by Stella Benson , A Voyage to Arcturus (1920) by David Lindsay , Lady into Fox (1922) by David Garnett , Lud-in-the-Mist (1926) by Hope Mirrlees , and Lolly Willowes (1926) by Sylvia Townsend Warner . E. R. Eddison was another influential writer who wrote during this era. He drew inspiration from Northern sagas, as Morris did, but his prose style
5047-509: The art of public speaking was considered a literary art for a significant period of time. From Ancient Greece to the late 19th century, rhetoric played a central role in Western education in training orators, lawyers, counselors, historians, statesmen, and poets. Around the 4th millennium BC, the complexity of trade and administration in Mesopotamia outgrew human memory, and writing became
5150-432: The canon of German fantasy. Ludwig Tieck 's collection Phantasus (1812–1817) contained several short fairy tales, including "The Elves". In France, the main writers of Romantic-era fantasy were Charles Nodier with Smarra (1821) and Trilby (1822) and Théophile Gautier who penned such stories as "Omphale" (1834) and " One of Cleopatra's Nights " (1838) as well as the novel Spirite (1866). Fantasy literature
5253-411: The continent. Other writers, including Edgar Rice Burroughs and Abraham Merritt , further developed the style. Several classic children's fantasies such as Lewis Carroll 's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), L. Frank Baum 's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), as well as the work of E. Nesbit and Frank R. Stockton were also published around this time. C. S. Lewis noted that in
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#17328519585295356-481: The development of fantasy with their writing of horror stories. Wilde also wrote a large number of children's fantasies, collected in The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1891). H. Rider Haggard developed the conventions of the lost world subgenre with his novel King Solomon's Mines (1885), which presented a fantastical Africa to a European audience still unfamiliar with
5459-446: The earlier part of the 20th century, fantasy was more accepted in juvenile literature, and therefore a writer interested in fantasy often wrote for that audience, despite using concepts and themes that could form a work aimed at adults. At this time, the terminology for the genre was not settled. Many fantasies in this era were termed fairy tales, including Max Beerbohm 's " The Happy Hypocrite " (1896) and MacDonald's Phantastes . It
5562-541: The earliest and most influential works of ancient Greek literature. Classical Greek genres included philosophy, poetry, historiography, comedies and dramas. Plato (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) and Aristotle (384–322 BC) authored philosophical texts that are regarded as the foundation of Western philosophy , Sappho ( c. 630 – c. 570 BC ) and Pindar were influential lyric poets , and Herodotus ( c. 484 – c. 425 BC ) and Thucydides were early Greek historians. Although drama
5665-499: The epic Mabinogion . One influential retelling of this was the fantasy work of Evangeline Walton . The Irish Ulster Cycle and Fenian Cycle have also been plentifully mined for fantasy. Its greatest influence was, however, indirect. Celtic folklore and mythology provided a major source for the Arthurian cycle of chivalric romance : the Matter of Britain . Although the subject matter
5768-547: The eruption of Tower Hill. Oral literature is an ancient human tradition found in "all corners of the world." Modern archaeology has been unveiling evidence of the human efforts to preserve and transmit arts and knowledge that depended completely or partially on an oral tradition, across various cultures: The Judeo-Christian Bible reveals its oral traditional roots; medieval European manuscripts are penned by performing scribes; geometric vases from archaic Greece mirror Homer's oral style. (...) Indeed, if these final decades of
5871-456: The fantasy genre, "The Fantastic Imagination", in his book A Dish of Orts (1893). MacDonald was a major influence on both Tolkien and C. S. Lewis . The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, an admirer of the Middle Ages and a poet who wrote several fantastic romances and novels in the latter part of the 19th century, including The Well at the World's End (1896). Morris
5974-608: The fantasy genre. In the Christian Platonic tradition, the reality of other worlds, and an overarching structure of great metaphysical and moral importance, has lent substance to the fantasy worlds of modern works. With Empedocles ( c. 490 – c. 430 BC ), elements are often used in fantasy works as personifications of the forces of nature. India has a long tradition of fantastical stories and characters, dating back to Vedic mythology . The Panchatantra ( Fables of Bidpai ), which some scholars believe
6077-407: The fantasy genre; although it was unknown for centuries and so not developed in medieval legend and romance, several fantasy works have retold the tale, such as John Gardner 's Grendel . Celtic folklore and legend has been an inspiration for many fantasy works. The Welsh tradition has been particularly influential, owing to its connection to King Arthur and its collection in a single work,
6180-507: The first by comparing inconsistencies in the transmitted versions of literature from various oral societies such as the Greek, Serbia and other cultures, then noting that the Vedic literature is too consistent and vast to have been composed and transmitted orally across generations, without being written down. According to Goody, the Vedic texts likely involved both a written and oral tradition, calling it
6283-511: The first literary results of this trend was the Gothic novel , a genre that began in Britain with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole . That work is considered the predecessor to both modern fantasy and modern horror fiction . Another noted Gothic novel which also contains a large amount of Arabian Nights -influenced fantasy elements is Vathek (1786) by William Thomas Beckford . In
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#17328519585296386-535: The garden, then the person trying to show their emotions walks around the garden and picks the appropriate colored rose for how they feel about the person in the middle of the garden. Fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe , often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic , the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fantasy literature may be directed at both children and adults. Fantasy
6489-713: The genre after World War II was Mervyn Peake 's Titus Groan (1946), the book that launched the Gormenghast series . J. R. R. Tolkien played a large role in the popularization and accessibility of the fantasy genre with his highly successful publications The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Tolkien was largely influenced by an ancient body of Anglo-Saxon myths , particularly Beowulf , as well as William Morris's romances and E. R. Eddison 's 1922 novel, The Worm Ouroboros . Tolkien's close friend C. S. Lewis , author of The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–56) and
6592-435: The genre of high fantasy —prompted a reaction. In China, the idea of fantasy literature as a distinct genre first became prevalent in the early 21st century. China has long had pre-genre stories with fantastical elements, including zhiguai , ghost stories, and miracle tales, among others. It is not uncommon for fantasy novels to be ranked on The New York Times Best Seller list , and some have been at number one on
6695-581: The genre. The Hebrew religious text, the Torah , is widely seen as a product of the Persian period (539–333 BC, probably 450–350 BC). This consensus echoes a traditional Jewish view which gives Ezra , the leader of the Jewish community on its return from Babylon, a pivotal role in its promulgation. This represents a major source of Christianity's Bible, which has had a major influence on Western literature. The beginning of Roman literature dates to 240 BC, when
6798-495: The grave and oblivion. The very best in literature is annually recognized by the Nobel Prize in Literature , which is awarded to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel , produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction" (original Swedish: den som inom litteraturen har producerat det mest framstående verket i en idealisk riktning ). Some researchers suggest that literary fiction can play
6901-475: The isle and find the Heaven Cent to bring back the Good Magician Humphrey. Throughout Dolph and Marrow's adventures through the land of Xanth they encounter many different creatures. There are the always rhyming ogres, bone hungry and smelly harpies, the cruel merwomen, and many others. One of the major creatures that come into play in the book are the nagas. The nagas are a snake-human people who have
7004-532: The later part of the Romantic period, folklorists collected folktales, epic poems, and ballads, and released them in printed form. The Brothers Grimm were inspired by the movement of German Romanticism in their 1812 collection Grimm's Fairy Tales , and they in turn inspired other collectors. Frequently their motivation stemmed not merely from Romanticism, but from Romantic nationalism , in that many were inspired to save their own country's folklore. Sometimes, as in
7107-436: The level of art." A value judgment definition of literature considers it as consisting solely of high quality writing that forms part of the belles-lettres ("fine writing") tradition. An example of this is in the 1910–1911 Encyclopædia Britannica , which classified literature as "the best expression of the best thought reduced to writing". The use of the term "literature" here poses some issues due to its origins in
7210-431: The list, including most recently, Brandon Sanderson in 2014, Neil Gaiman in 2013, Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin in 2011, and Terry Goodkind in 2006. Symbolism often plays a significant role in fantasy literature, often through the use of archetypal figures inspired by earlier texts or folklore . Some argue that fantasy literature and its archetypes fulfill a function for individuals and society and
7313-550: The messages are continually updated for current societies. Ursula K. Le Guin , in her essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", presented the idea that language is the most crucial element of high fantasy , because it creates a sense of place. She analyzed the misuse of a formal, "olden-day" style, saying that it was a dangerous trap for fantasy writers because it was ridiculous when done wrong. She warns writers away from trying to base their style on that of masters such as Lord Dunsany and E. R. Eddison , emphasizing that language that
7416-431: The millennium have taught us anything, it must be that oral tradition never was the other we accused it of being; it never was the primitive, preliminary technology of communication we thought it to be. Rather, if the whole truth is told, oral tradition stands out as the single most dominant communicative technology of our species as both a historical fact and, in many areas still, a contemporary reality. The earliest poetry
7519-459: The modern image of "medieval" is more influenced by the romance than by any other medieval genre, and the word medieval evokes knights, distressed damsels, dragons, and other romantic tropes. At the time of the Renaissance romance continued to be popular, and the trend was to more fantastic fiction. The English Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (c.1408–1471) was written in prose, and
7622-571: The most commercially oriented types, but this has been contested in recent years, with the serious study of genre fiction within universities. The following, by the British author William Boyd on the short story, might be applied to all prose fiction: [short stories] seem to answer something very deep in our nature as if, for the duration of its telling, something special has been created, some essence of our experience extrapolated, some temporary sense has been made of our common, turbulent journey towards
7725-641: The most influential writers of fantasy and horror in the 20th century. Despite MacDonald's future influence, and Morris' popularity at the time, it was not until around the start of the 20th century that fantasy fiction began to reach a large audience, with authors such as Lord Dunsany (1878–1957) who, following Morris's example, wrote fantasy novels, but also in the short story form. He was particularly noted for his vivid and evocative style. His style greatly influenced many writers, not always happily; Ursula K. Le Guin , in her essay on style in fantasy "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", wryly referred to Lord Dunsany as
7828-399: The next seven years before Dolph can marry, they will work out all the problems. The test of the roses is when one person stands in the center of a garden of different colored roses. Each rose color stands for a different emotion: white for indifference, yellow for friendship, pink for romance, red for love, and black for death. The person being decided over stands on a pillar in the middle of
7931-569: The nineteenth century, and because of this, literature until recently was mostly male dominated . George Sand was an idea. She has a unique place in our age. Others are great men ... she was a great woman. Victor Hugo , Les funérailles de George Sand There were few English-language women poets whose names are remembered until the twentieth century. In the nineteenth century some notable individuals include Emily Brontë , Elizabeth Barrett Browning , and Emily Dickinson (see American poetry ). But while generally women are absent from
8034-781: The oldest recorded form of many well-known (and some more obscure) European fairy tales. This was the beginning of a tradition that would both influence the fantasy genre and be incorporated in it, as many works of fairytale fantasy appear to this day. In a work on alchemy in the 16th century, Paracelsus (1493–1541) identified four types of beings with the four elements of alchemy: gnomes (earth elementals); undines (water); sylphs (air); and salamanders (fire). Most of these beings are found in folklore as well as alchemy, and their names are often used interchangeably with similar beings from folklore. Literary fairy tales, such as those written by Charles Perrault (1628–1703) and Madame d'Aulnoy (c.1650 – 1705), became very popular early in
8137-454: The power to change into any animal he chooses. While watching the images of the magical tapestry Dolph begins to think about the disappearance of the Good Magician Humphrey. Dolph gets so enraptured with the thought of finding the Magician that he eventually asks his father and mother permission to set out on a quest to find the answers. Queen Irene decides that Dolph is at a fine age to set out for
8240-442: The power to transform into either a full snake, full human, or mixed form. Dolph and Marrow encounter the nagas when trying to get through a goblin kingdom where the goblins are holding Nada, the naga princess, prisoner. After rescuing Nada, Dolph and Marrow return to the naga kingdom, where Dolph, even though too young, becomes unintentionally betrothed to Nada through a naga tradition. Nada joins Dolph and Marrow on their quest to find
8343-432: The presence of familiar cultural values in literary texts played an important impact on the performance of minority students. Psychologist Maslow's ideas help literary critics understand how characters in literature reflect their personal culture and the history. The theory suggests that literature helps an individual's struggle for self-fulfillment. Religion has had a major influence on literature, through works like
8446-415: The present day, the influence of Homeric epic on Western civilization has been significant, inspiring many of its most famous works of literature, music, art and film. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education; to Plato , Homer was simply the one who "has taught Greece" – ten Hellada pepaideuken . Hesiod 's Works and Days (c.700 BC) and Theogony are some of
8549-474: The priority of reason and promoting the importance of imagination and spirituality. Its success in rehabilitating imagination was of fundamental importance to the evolution of fantasy, and its interest in medieval romances provided many motifs to modern fantasy. The Romantics invoked the medieval romance as a model for the works they wanted to produce, in contrast to the realism of the Enlightenment. One of
8652-408: The red rose, but she cannot because she does not truly love him and she is pricked by a rose. Nada then tries to pick a black rose and commit suicide, but Dolph jumps over to her and stops her. Dolph explains that he loves Nada even though the love is not returned. In the end Dolph remains betrothed to each girl even though the King and Queen do not believe in it, but Dolph and the girls believe that, in
8755-624: The stories a local flavor and thus connect with the audience by making the historicity embedded in the oral tradition as unreliable. The lack of surviving texts about the Greek and Roman religious traditions have led scholars to presume that these were ritualistic and transmitted as oral traditions, but some scholars disagree that the complex rituals in the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations were an exclusive product of an oral tradition. Writing systems are not known to have existed among Native North Americans (north of Mesoamerica) before contact with Europeans. Oral storytelling traditions flourished in
8858-440: The villain's language might be inappropriate if vulgar. Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels , plays , and poems . It includes both print and digital writing . In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature , much of which has been transcribed. Literature
8961-582: The work dominates the Arthurian literature. Arthurian motifs have appeared steadily in literature from its publication, though the works have been a mix of fantasy and non-fantasy works. At the time, it and the Spanish Amadis de Gaula (1508), which was also written in prose, spawned many imitators, and the genre was popularly well-received. It later produced such masterpieces of Renaissance poetry as Ludovico Ariosto 's Orlando furioso and Torquato Tasso 's Gerusalemme Liberata . Ariosto's tale in particular
9064-482: The world's oldest literatures . The primary genres of the literature of ancient Egypt — didactic texts, hymns and prayers, and tales—were written almost entirely in verse; By the Old Kingdom (26th century BC to 22nd century BC), literary works included funerary texts , epistles and letters, hymns and poems, and commemorative autobiographical texts recounting the careers of prominent administrative officials. It
9167-615: The world's first print cultures . Much of Chinese literature originates with the Hundred Schools of Thought period that occurred during the Eastern Zhou dynasty (769‒269 BC). The most important of these include the Classics of Confucianism , of Daoism , of Mohism , of Legalism , as well as works of military science (e.g. Sun Tzu 's The Art of War , c. 5th century BC ) and Chinese history (e.g. Sima Qian 's Records of
9270-577: The year of the fall of Constantinople, could look back from his fiftieth year on a lifetime in which about eight million books had been printed, more perhaps than all the scribes of Europe had produced since Constantine founded his city in A.D. 330." Eventually, printing enabled other forms of publishing besides books. The history of newspaper publishing began in Germany in 1609, with the publishing of magazines following in 1663. In late 1820s England, growing political and social awareness, "particularly among
9373-436: Was a source text for many fantasies of adventure. During the Renaissance , Giovanni Francesco Straparola wrote and published The Facetious Nights of Straparola (1550–1555), a collection of stories of which many are literary fairy tales . Giambattista Basile wrote and published the Pentamerone , which was the first collection of stories to contain solely what would later be known as fairy tales. The two works include
9476-448: Was composed around the 3rd century BC. It is based on older oral traditions, including "animal fables that are as old as we are able to imagine". It was influential in Europe and the Middle East . It used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate the central Indian principles of political science . Talking animals endowed with human qualities have now become a staple of modern fantasy. The Baital Pachisi ( Vikram and
9579-505: Was heavily reworked by the authors, these romances developed marvels until they became independent of the original folklore and fictional, an important stage in the development of fantasy. Romance or chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that reworked legends , fairy tales , and history to suit the readers' and hearers' tastes, but by c. 1600 they were out of fashion, and Miguel de Cervantes famously burlesqued them in his novel Don Quixote . Still,
9682-412: Was inspired by the medieval sagas, and his writing was deliberately archaic in the style of the chivalric romances . Morris's work represented an important milestone in the history of fantasy, as while other writers wrote of foreign lands or of dream worlds , Morris was the first to set his stories in an entirely invented world . Authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar Wilde also contributed to
9785-449: Was modeled more on Tudor and Elizabethan English, and his stories were filled with vigorous characters in glorious adventures. Eddison's most famous work is The Worm Ouroboros (1922), a long heroic fantasy set on an imaginary version of the planet Mercury. Literary critics of the era began to take an interest in "fantasy" as a genre of writing, and also to argue that it was a genre worthy of serious consideration. Herbert Read devoted
9888-421: Was not until 1923 that the term "fantasist" was used to describe a writer (in this case, Oscar Wilde) who wrote fantasy fiction. The name "fantasy" was not developed until later; as late as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937), the term "fairy tale" was still being used. An important factor in the development of the fantasy genre was the arrival of magazines devoted to fantasy fiction. The first such publication
9991-558: Was not until the early Middle Kingdom (21st century BC to 17th century BC) that a narrative Egyptian literature was created. Many works of early periods, even in narrative form, had a covert moral or didactic purpose, such as the Sanskrit Panchatantra ( 200 BC – 300 AD), based on older oral tradition. Drama and satire also developed as urban cultures, which provided a larger public audience, and later readership for literary production. Lyric poetry (as opposed to epic poetry)
10094-611: Was often the speciality of courts and aristocratic circles, particularly in East Asia where songs were collected by the Chinese aristocracy as poems, the most notable being the Shijing or Book of Songs (1046– c. 600 BC ). In ancient China , early literature was primarily focused on philosophy, historiography , military science , agriculture, and poetry . China, the origin of modern paper making and woodblock printing , produced
10197-548: Was popular in Victorian times , with the works of writers such as Mary Shelley , William Morris, George MacDonald, and Charles Dodgson reaching wider audiences. Hans Christian Andersen took a new approach to fairy tales by creating original stories told in a serious fashion. From this origin, John Ruskin wrote The King of the Golden River (1851), a fairy tale that included complex levels of characterization and created in
10300-435: Was popular in ancient Greece, of the hundreds of tragedies written and performed during the classical age , only a limited number of plays by three authors still exist: Aeschylus , Sophocles , and Euripides . The plays of Aristophanes ( c. 446 – c. 386 BC ) provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy , the earliest form of Greek Comedy, and are in fact used to define
10403-619: Was the romance , an adventurous and sometimes magical narrative with strong popular appeal. Controversial, religious, political and instructional literature proliferated during the European Renaissance as a result of the Johannes Gutenberg 's invention of the printing press around 1440, while the Medieval romance developed into the novel. Publishing became possible with the invention of writing but became more practical with
10506-489: Was the German magazine Der Orchideengarten which ran from 1919 to 1921. In 1923, the first English-language fantasy fiction magazine, Weird Tales , was created. Many other similar magazines eventually followed. and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction H. P. Lovecraft was deeply influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and to a somewhat lesser extent, by Lord Dunsany; with his Cthulhu Mythos stories, he became one of
10609-612: Was the first woman to be granted a membership in The Swedish Academy in 1914. Feminist scholars have since the twentieth century sought to expand the literary canon to include more women writers. A separate genre of children's literature only began to emerge in the eighteenth century, with the development of the concept of childhood . The earliest of these books were educational books, books on conduct, and simple ABCs—often decorated with animals, plants, and anthropomorphic letters. A fundamental question of literary theory
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