Flashcards on Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature
Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature: Guide for Students
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Fantasy
40 cards
Card 1
Question: What makes fantasy harder to trace historically than science fiction?
Answer: Fantasy's roots go back to ancient myths, legends, and folk tales in every culture, so its origin depends on the definition used.
Card 2
Question: Name three ancient sources that contain elements of fantasy.
Answer: Greek and Roman mythology, Norse mythology, Celtic legends.
Card 3
Question: Why aren't ancient myths and legends considered 'fiction' in the modern sense?
Answer: They were not treated as modern fiction; they functioned as cultural myths and beliefs rather than imagined stories with authorial intent.
Card 4
Question: Why is Beowulf often cited in discussions of early English fantasy?
Answer: Beowulf (700–1000 AD) is an Anglo-Saxon poem about a hero fighting monsters and is often cited as the first English fantasy text.
Card 5
Question: Why is Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream not considered modern fantasy despite its fairy world and magic?
Answer: It lacks the consistent internal logic of a fully imagined Secondary World that defines modern fantasy.
Card 6
Question: How does Gulliver's Travels relate to fantasy?
Answer: It contains fantasy elements (tiny people, giants) but is primarily a work of political satire.
Card 7
Question: What change in the Victorian era marks the beginning of modern fantasy?
Answer: Writers began creating fully imagined secondary worlds with their own rules, and fantasy became associated with childhood and imagination.
Card 8
Question: What is The Mabinogion and why is it significant for fantasy history?
Answer: The Mabinogion (translated 1838) is a collection of Welsh medieval stories; the oldest surviving English-language fantasy narratives that pre-date Art
Card 9
Question: According to Tolkien's essay 'On Fairy-Stories', what is a Secondary World?
Answer: A Secondary World is a completely imagined world with its own consistent internal rules that the reader can enter and believe in while inside it.
Card 10
Question: What does Tolkien mean by 'Sub-creation' in relation to fantasy authorship?
Answer: Sub-creation is the author acting like a small creator who makes a Secondary World with its own life; successful Sub-creation produces believable inte