Literature: the fantasy genre, part0

Self-tutoring about literature: the tutor begins about the fantasy genre.

Of course I read as a kid, but not voraciously like some I knew. I recall many who each always had a book at the very front of their desk, or else was reading it.

Some of those insistent readers were academically accomplished, but most had just average marks: they simply liked to read. Some only read horror, some romance, some mysteries, and some read anything. Also, there were those who read fantasy.

The fantasy readers seemed dedicated to it. Some went through the novels so quickly you didn’t know whether that title was a new one or the one from a couple days ago. Often, it seemed, the books were in series, so they all looked the same unless you carefully read the title. In the classroom, or on the bus, the fantasy reader would be engrossed in the book, sometimes with its sequel at the ready in case they finished the current one. Their fidelity impressed me.

As a kid, I read mystery books, some horror, a couple of romance ones, and various classics (eg, Three Musketeers), but no fantasy ones. Later, post-university, I read a few fantasy-genre short stories.

The first fantasy novel I’ve read is one in French that I just finished today: at around 200 pages, it took about a week. Therefore, I’ve gained insight into the challenges and attractions of the fantasy genre.

To start with, in a fantasy novel, it seems names are important in a way they aren’t so much in ordinary fiction. In particular, they are many new names to learn (and remember) at the beginning of a new series. Moreover, there are often many more types of beings in fantasy books, each having its own distinct abilities, temperament, and history. To a new reader, therefore, the cast can be challenging to remember. However, that’s just what fantasy buffs tend to love: a complex array personalities, spread across numerous character-types.

There are so many different types of intelligence, classification and recall being one. Looking back, I wonder if my classmates who were successful readers of fantasy deserved more recognition than they got.