I have issues with Prezi Link's genre flowchart. I disagree with Alex Herzberg's grouping whereby Fantasy is depicted as a subgenre of Science Fiction. I am sure there are other folks who have no problem with his model--but I think this is fundamentally incorrect in the scheme of World literature.
Fantasy is a very very old genre which finds its roots in Mythological tales. IMHO it was a very early manifestation of Adventure and Romance (happy ending) which can technically be found in the works of Dante, Rabelais, Faust, etc. long before the 18th century. In contrast, Science Fiction is a very new genre, even if one considers Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to be the earliest work in that group. I feel strongly that if one looks carefully at the structure, elements and plotting of Fantasy novels--one will find more in common with ancient and medieval literatures than with "Scientific Fiction".
I blame American publishers for lumping Fantasy with Science Fiction. American business/ Yankee realistis of the 19th and 20th century have had little taste or respect for Fantasy novels. They never knew where to put them. This has also, sadly, been true of some librarians. When I first began working for the library in the mid-1970's, The Lord of the Rings was found in YA, SF, J and Adult fiction, at least FOUR different locations. People didn't know what to do with Tolkien. Many still don't know what to do with Bradbury, or Michael Ende, Leguin, Jordan, Eddings, et al. How can you place some of these novels in the Science Fiction genre, when there is little or no technology whatsoever?
-Monty Phair
Hi Monty,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts. While I understand your view that fantasy should not be grouped with science fiction, BCPL classifies them together and the flowchart reflects that context for the sake of consistency, as this training was created for a BCPL audience. Also, the SF blogs and articles I researched for this assignment support the idea that science fiction and fantasy, while very different, are related. That is why the flowchart’s genre description is so broad: imaginative stories that focus on technology and/or magic, taking place in the past, present or future.
The flowchart is by no means a perfect or definitive breakdown of the myriad literary genres, and there is always room for discussion!
Thanks again for commenting,
Alex