Dawne i współczesne wymiary literatury fantasy
The antique and modern dimensions of fantasy literature

Summary/Abstract: The following paper presents the ancient roots and modern dilemmas of fantasy literature. The first part discusses the genre’s origins in the religious and mythological texts of the antiquity, and the genre’s development until its emergence as modern fantasy literature. The second part is devoted to analyzing the modern critique of the genre (lack of realism, synonymy with children’s literature), and establishing the genre’s categories. The second part investigates the theories of J.R.R. Tolkien, Lisa Tuttle, Farah Mendlesohn and John H. Timmerman. The paper also touches upon such issues as the presence of monomyth in fantasy, the potential of sub-creation and mythopoeia, in order to explain how fantasy literature is the modern successor to storytelling.

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