Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion

Description

First published in 1981 by Methuen. This study argues against vague interpretations of fantasy as mere escapism and seeks to define it as a distinct kind of narrative. A general theoretical section introduces recent work on fantasy, notably Tzventan Todorov's The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (1973). Dr Jackson, however, extends Todorov's ideas to include aspects of psychoanalytical theory. Seeing fantasy as primarily an expression of unconscious drives, she stresses the importance of the writings of Freud and subsequent theorists when analysing recurrent themes, such as doubling or multiplying selves, mirror images, metamorphosis and bodily disintegration. DEGREESl Gothic fiction, classic Victorian fantasies, the 'fantastic realism' of Dickens and Dostoevsky, tales by Mary Shelley, James Hogg, E.T.A. Hoffmann, George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, R.L. Stevenson, Franz Kafka, Mervyn Peake and Thomas Pynchon are among the texts covered. Through a reading of thse frequently disquieting works, Dr Jackson moves towards a definition of fantasy expressing cultural unease. BOOK COVER......Page 1 TITLE......Page 4 COPYRIGHT......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 6 GENERAL EDITOR’S PREFACE......Page 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 8 1 INTRODUCTION......Page 9 PART ONE: THEORY......Page 14 2 THE FANTASTIC AS A MODE......Page 16 3 PSYCHOANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVES......Page 44 PART TWO: TEXTS......Page 63 4 GOTHIC TALES AND NOVELS......Page 65 5 FANTASTIC REALISM......Page 81 6 VICTORIAN FANTASIES......Page 91 7 FROM KAFKA’S ‘METAMORPHOSIS’ TO PYNCHON’S ‘ENTROPY’......Page 100 8 AFTERWORD: THE ‘UNSEEN’ OF CULTURE......Page 108 NOTES......Page 114 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 120 NAME INDEX......Page 129 SUBJECT INDEX......Page 133