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# 3 Constructing a world of fantasy

You’re probably aware of many labels applied to both adult and children’s fiction, such as adventure, science fiction, mystery, thriller and horror to name a few. In this section, you will be looking at Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce, and Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr. These books have usually been categorised as belonging to the genre of fantasy. But what, exactly, is a fantasy text within children’s literature? Take a moment to reflect on your own understanding of fantasy within literature, then turn to the next activity.

## Activity 3 The fantastic and the real

Allow about 10 minutes

Look at the five definitions of fantasy below. What do they suggest about the relationship between the fantastic and the real in children’s books?

> Fantasy is any departure from consensus reality…

(Hume, 1984, p. 21)

> One element characteristic of fantasy is the presence of magic, or any other form of the supernatural, in an otherwise realistic, recognizable world …

> … The essence of fantasy is a confrontation of the ordinary and the fabulous …

> … [T]he best examples of fantasy for children use the fantastic form as a narrative device, as a metaphor for reality.’

(Nikolajeva, 2006)

> … [T]he fantastic [is] a form of writing which is about opening up subversive spaces within the mainstream …

(Armitt, 1996, p. 2)

> a type of story or literature that is set in a magical world, often involving traditional myths and magical creatures and sometimes ideas or events from the real world, especially from the medieval period of history: Characters in children’s fantasy fiction often cross between worlds by magic.

(CED definition of ‘Fantasy fiction’, 2022)

> The fantastic can intrude upon the world the reader knows, or the reader can choose to remain in the liminal space between the real and the unreal.

(Thomas, 2019)

### Discussion

Fantasy, clearly, has to be defined in relation to reality (otherwise it could not be recognised as fantastic) but the nature of this relationship is more controversial. Is it simply any departure from reality, or will the best fantasy in some way provide insights into reality, or even undermine it?

You may like to revisit these quotations, and reflect on your own view of the relationship between fantasy and realism, when you come to the end of the course.

What precisely constitutes ‘fantasy’ literature has given rise to a great many articles and books (e.g. Rhetorics of Fantasy (2008) by Farah Mendlesohn). While adult fantasy has traditionally been categorised as popular rather than prestigious literature, the fantastic has been a more acceptable and sometimes highly valued feature within children’s literature. Perhaps this is because it can be appreciated both as pleasurable play in relation to a conception of childhood as innocent and joyful, and also, in more pedagogic terms, as metaphorically conveying important insights that contribute to the child reader’s development and preparation for adulthood.

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