Fantasy Fiction and Some Definitions

   What is fantastic literature? What is fantastic fiction? Do these concepts correspond each other entirely? If not, what are the differences between them? Of course, some of these questions have no one and debatable answer. We can’t consider the defnitions related to literature in the same certain way like physics rules. But if we are to classify looking over the samples in the world literature and basing on dictionary meanings, we can easily say that at least these definitions don’t correspond each other entirely. Well, “fantastic” means “not in real, figment of imagination, imaginary” in dictionary and we can take each literature work about events that can’t occur in real world in fantastic literature category. But is this enough for a reader who wonders what is between two covers before deciding to read? In one of his stories, Stephen King tells the slaughter coming to life trucks make to people in order to oppose to slaughtering the nature to make highways. But can this story be thought as the same with Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings? Can it be claimed % 100 certainly that who likes Dante’s The Divine Comedy will like Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Magician? If definitions won’t lead us and take away our doubts about what is happening between two covers, which functions are left?
If we define fantastic literature as “literary works which tell events that cannot happen in real world, when we look over authors who work in this branch we can face a lot of important people. In "A Midsummer Nights Dream", Shakespeare tells about the tricks made by the fairies king and queen to each other. One of the main characters of this work is a quite jokey creature, half goat and half man, who is called Puk. The same author in his work “The Storm” tells the events which occur between a magician family exiled to a deserted island and people who come this island by an accident. Having won The Nobel Literature Prize with his psychological novels Jean Paul Sartre in his novel “İş İşten Geçti” tells the story which includes incidents occuring after a couple who met after death and fell in love came to life for a second chance. Kafka in his “Değişim” introduces us Gregor Samsa who finds out that he has turned into an enormous insect when he wakes up. Goethe in Faust adds cunning and sly devil among his characters. Known for his knight novels occuring in real life Alexandre Dumas actually used also ghosts, vampires and wolfmen in his several books. Having become phenomenon with book “Şeytan Ayinleri” even Salman Rushdie made his first success with “Gece Yarısı Çocukları”, a novel including fantastic components. When we look over Turkish literature, Nazlı Eray and İhsan Oktay Anar are authors first thought. Sadık Yemni was once famous for his work “Muska”. Maybe some people can say some of the young authors such as Doğu Yücel and Dost Körpe. Even the most interested person has difficulty in making a long list, because really a few authors have written in this branch. Since examining the causes will last for pages, we finish this saying that the recent increase is hopeful.
Fantastic fiction developing in the twentieth century separetes from this general definition in some discriminating points. The number of authors loyal to these points is quite enough to classify fantastic fiction as a different kind. The most important feature of this kind is that told stories occur not in real life but in a world basing on author’s imagination. With its geografy, its history, its races, its culture that is to say with its every detail,it is a world belonging to the author. Of course, while the author creates this world, he benefits from real world’s words to communicate with his readers. For example, Westerner authors preferred largely lords, kings and knights. But important authors of this kind either Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, Eddings, Weis-Hickman couple or Salvatore separated these words from their culture and gave different meanings to the words. It is obvious that the knight in a fictional world which is polytheistic and has no cross can’t have cultural link with knights in Christian culture. The knight concept in fantastic fiction, represents only “specially trained and distinguished soldier”. Because of this, if an Oriental author wants to write in this kind, on the condition of separating from their culture, he can add the words such as khan, bandit, emir or warrior into his work. Actually Oriental authors are luckier than Westerner ones in this matter, because while Westerner authors use only words in their culture, the Oriental ones use both words of authors introducing this kind to the world and words belonging to their own culture. They know that when they say knight or bandit, there will be an idea in reader’s mind. The most attractive aspect of this kind is there is no compulsion in choosing the evil in any nation That is to say, in heroic stories which are largely in this kind, defining Turkish as good and Greeks as evil or American as good and Arabics as evil is not needed. Another clear feature and amusing aspect of this kind is spell takes place of technology. Spell mentined here isn’t cultural magic like unluckiness of marriage spell. Characters of fantastic fiction can fly somewhere to another, can see beyond miles, can make weapons to protect themselves or fight against the evil by casting spell. Even in fantastic fictional texts technology isn’t completely excluded, there is this kind of spell.
While defining this kind, in most works”fantasy” is used instead of “fantastic fiction”. But this word has risk to be confused with the word “fantasia” having differrent meanings in a lot of branches like music. Saying “fantazya” is possible, but it’s hard to use it in sentence, on the other hand it is inadequate to express this kind to unfamiliar people. Therefore, it hasn’t been accepted despite tried for a long time. Fantastic fiction is the most popular because both paralleling to to science fiction a more known kind and almost impossible to be given different meanings. If we summarize it is better to call novels belonging to this kind as “fantastic fiction” or “fantasy” in general usage, when book is certainly fantastic fiction, it is acceptable to say “fantazya” or “fantastic novel”.
After we explained more fully that each literary work involving fantastic components isn’t a fantastic fictional or fantasy novel, we need to emphasise that also fantastic fiction has different sorts in its own. When we say fantastic fiction, among first thought authors R.A. Salvatore and Weis-Hickman regarded action as important in told stories, Ursula K. Le Guin focused on literary aspects and themes, authors such as Tolkien, Eddings,Robert Jordan cared to balance fantasy withn literature. There were authors even adding amusing components into the kind, making reader smile once three pages such as Terry Pratchett. All of these authors were loyal to discriminating points of fantastic fiction, but they gave different pleasures from each other as they were led by their own understanding of novel and emotions they wanted their readers to feel.
It cannot be said a kind of novel is better or worse than the others. They are all spectrums of literature. Fantastic literature has had a strong posion among other kinds by having its power from creativity and universality. In the world and in our country, there are publishing houses which can resist closing down only by publishing books of this kind. The most known of this kind Lord of the Rings is also the most read book of the world. Dragonlance and similar serial books have crowd of fan in most countries. Each book which will be included in these serials is looked forward by hundreds of people. Fantastic fiction has a feature of being a literary kind which gives a lot of products by being foundation to role playing games, card games, computer games, films, drawing art and similars. Therefore, it may be said undoubtfully that fantasy literature will continue to enrich with new branches and sometimes amuse or make us think while it takes us to variable worlds for long years.

 

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