Week Three

How does Attebery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least five definitions.

Attebery (1980) defines fantasy in different ways. These are five definitions for Fantasy in the article.
 Any narratives which includes as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the author believes to be natural law—that is fantasy (Attebery, 1980. p.1).
 W. R. Irwin has pointed out that the primary feature, without which a work cannot simply be fantasy, is 'an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility.'" (Attebery, 1980. p.1).
 "Fantasy invokes wonder by making the impossible seem familiar and the familiar seem new and strange." (Attebery, 1980. p.2).
 "By demanding a straightforward treatment of impossible characters, objects, or events, we can distinguish between fantasy and related genres."(Attebery, 1980. p.1).
 Another definition Attebery uses in his article is that of J. R. Tolkien (1965) that fantasy is, "founded upon the hard recognition that things are so in the world as it appears under the sun; on recognition of fact but not slavery to it." (Attebery, 1980. p.1).
These are all explanations for fantasy Attebery have given out for Fantasy.

How is science fiction different from fantasy, according to Le Guinn: ( http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html)?
From the online material, Le Guinn (2004) says science fiction is a branch of realism, so therefore different from fantasy, which may have some version of reality as its base, but also creates its own worlds. Science fiction is different because it uses the real world but adds something unreal or new to it. Some science fiction invents the past, different from how it was in reality, as in Philip Dick's Man in the High Castle where Germany and Japan won the Second World War, though we know they did not do so in reality.
Also, Le Guinn (2004) defined Science fiction in a general way, she says “Most science fiction pretends that the future is the present or the past, and then tells us what happened in it.” Also she says that’s because people know the future is a plank page. The imagination can write anything people like.
Le Guinn (2004) states Science fiction has the potential of mythology, and she has made an example of Shelley's Frankenstein, and considers science fiction is also modern fiction.
Le Guinn (2004) also has given a very direct definition of fantasy. She says fantasy is more direct it’s fictionality than science fictions or realism, because it’s more radical. Also, Le Guinn says fantasy its more shamelessly fictive.
Reference List:
Atterbery, B (1980). The fantasy tradition in American literature: From Irving to Le Guinn. Bloomington Indiana.
Le Guinn, U. (2005). Plausability Revisited: Wha Hoppen and What Didn't. Retrieved from internet source: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html