Fantasy Literature: An Introduction

Fantasy Literature has emerged as one of the most important genres over the past few decades and now enjoys extraordinary levels of popularity. The impact of Tolkien’s Middle-earth works and the serialisation of George Martin’s Game of Thrones books has moved these and their contemporaries into mainstream culture. As the popularity grows so does interest in the roots of fantasy, the main writers and themes, and how to approach these texts.
Oxford is a natural home to fantasy literature with those who worked or studied here having written so many famous and influential texts (e.g. Lewis Carroll [C. L. Dodgson], C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Susan Cooper, Diana Wynne Jones, Alan Garner, and Philip Pullman to name but a few) – leading to the notion of an ‘Oxford School of Fantasy’. These lectures, short talks, and interviews seek to take listeners into these works and these writers and beyond.
Beginners should read this introduction and then listen to Stuart Lee’s ‘Approaching Fantasy Literature’ to understand its history and ways of approaching it, and then move to the more detailed talks on some key authors or collections.
We have created three teaching packs to support this:

• 'The Hobbit' Years 6 and up (slideset and teaching guide)
• 'Narnia' Years 5 and up (slideset and teaching guide).
• 'Alice in Wonderland' Years 5 and up (slideset and teaching guide)