How Fantasy Has Changed Since the 1920s

How Fantasy Has Changed Since the 1920s A Century of Fantasy: How the Genre's Changed Since the 1920s The English word, "fantasy," sprang from Old French's  phantasie, or "vision, imagination." But you wouldn't be entirely remiss if you'd thought that it came from  the word, "fantastic." When you consider all the fantastic things in our world and our imaginations, it's no wonder there are so many different subgenres in fantasy - and dedicated readers of each subgenre.In our past piece in this series on writing fantasy, our editors gave tips on writing compelling fantasy fiction. In this post, we conduct a brief examination of the evolution of the genre and its subgenres. Because we've only got so much space, we're going to concentrate on the Anglophone side of things - though fantasy is a worldwide phenomenon that's got roots in Indian myth, dating back to 1500 BC.   And yet, up until the 1940s, "fantasy" wasn't even a universal term for the genre yet! ("Fairy tale" was preferred.)How did we get from there to fantasy's current, steadfast position in mainstream English literat ure?The Two Giants of FantasyEnter two names that you might’ve come across before: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.The two fathers of fantasy met in 1926 on the campus of Oxford University, where they were both on the faculty together. (Lewis was a part of the Literature faction of the English faculty. Tolkien, unsurprisingly, was more of a Linguistics person.) So it's curious that it seems to actually be young adult and children’s fantasy (something called Harry Potter, in particular) that changed all of that. First,  Harry Potter got everyone reading fantasy. Then the genre really sprang into popular culture when the advent of CGI took fantasy from our books to our silver screens. Suddenly, the worlds that we could only envision in our minds were right in front of our eyes. In 2002, Peter Jackson captured the attention of both readers and non-readers with the Hollywood adaptation of Lord of the Rings. Then  Game of Thrones started showing up on our televisions every week, and that, as they say, is that.Where will fantasy go now?We mentioned it already, but we’ll mention it again. There really is no better time to write fantasy. When you think about it, the biggest pop culture phenomena since the turn of the millennium almost all have ties to fantasy: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Twilight. Even The Hunger Games is a dys topian fantasy, set in an entirely imagined (albeit terrifyingly bleak) world.Looking back now, it’s easy to see the many ways that the genre’s evolved since the days of Tolkien. Consider The Hobbit, which possessed a grand total of zero women. Then take a gander at all the girls who are mainstays in the most popular fantasy books now (Hermione, Katniss, Triss).Admittedly, it’s tough to predict the future, but at the rate that the genre’s progressing, there are two big trends that will carry us through the next couple of years:An ever-diversifying spectrum of characters and worlds as fantasy expands beyond its European and medieval roots. In Tor.com’s past open call for submissions, for instance, they specifically asked for novellas that  were not based on European cultures - seeking, instead, worlds that â€Å"take their influences from Africa, Asia, the indigenous Americas, or any diasporic culture from one of those sources.†Further gen re- and subgenre-blurring. Fantasy already overlaps with romance, mysteries, and thrillers - and we’ll see much more of fantasy’s influences in other genres as the spectrum of writers and readers continues to broaden.Fantasy traditions of other countries will impact the stories of the Anglophone world. Russia, for instance, recently pioneered the increasingly popular "LitRPG" genre, where the stories take place in worlds with video-game mechanics.Ultimately, the future of fantasy rests on the imaginations of all the writers out there. How will you show us glimpses of another universe? People are always wanting to escape from reality. And so it's Lloyd Alexander, the author of the famous The Chronicles of Prydain series, who  states the purpose of modern fantasy best: â€Å"Fantasy is barely an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.†Has this post inspired you to write fantasy of your own? Tell us about your ideas in the comments. And if yo u want to get an even more concrete idea of fantasy's evolution, check out this post of the 100 best fantasy series of all time.