Once when I was engrossed in a book, I forgot to close the balcony window. Soon, a cat crawled in and surveyed the entire room, finally coming to a halt near my head and falling asleep. It was then I noticed that a cat had been my passive reading companion for nearly 2 hours. It’s this effect that a good fantasy novel has on you (I was reading ‘The Colour of Magic’ by Terry Pratchett). But what exactly constitutes a fantasy novel? Let’s break it down.
What is the Fantasy genre in Literature?
If we want to conventionally define fantasy, then it is a genre of literary fiction that features the use of magic or other supernatural elements in the plot, setting, theme or characters. Some writers may create entirely different worlds, in which they juxtapose the real world with supernatural/magical elements, with their own logic, imaginary races and creatures. But fantasy is not tied to science fiction or reality in any way; it is speculative in nature and the ‘what if?’ question looms over every possible creation in the book.
How did the Fantasy genre originate?
Fantastical elements have always been a part of our storytelling, in oral storytelling traditions that have explained the natural elements that we did not understand as myths and superstitions; what is fire? Where does…
