Modern Fantasy Literature: Essay Ideas Choose one of the idea and you have to write about it specifically and you can’t choose more than one. You may use these ideas as starting points and discover your own unique angle on the topic/question. Remember to have a thesis (a main point that controls the entire essay) and support your ideas with textual evidence (references and quotations). Also concluding paragraph. The idea has to be relating to one of the books we used in class. The essay (5 pages, typed and double-spaced) How has fantasy paradoxically developed alongside modern science? How does fantasy question the nature of truth? How does some fantasy rationalize the otherworld? What are the narrative structures of some fantasy (such as adventures)? In what ways is fantasy symbolic? How does the protagonist (“hero”) develop through the fantasy narrative? How does fantasy explore the idea of Time? How does fantasy explore the nature of romantic relationships? In what ways does fantasy explore the possibility of otherworldly beings? Why is setting important? What is the nature of some representative features (landscapes through which the hero adventures) * More info these the books we use in class  1- George MacDonald, Phantastes (1858). Dover, 2005. 2- William Morris, The Wood beyond the World (1894). Wildside Press, 2005. 3- Lord Dunsany, The King of Elfland’s Daughter (1924). Del Rey, 1999. 4- Robert E. Howard, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (1930s). Del Rey, 2003. Course Description The fantastic has been around in literature as early as the medieval and Renaissance periods and even earlier (Beowulf, the King Arthur legends, The Faerie Queene, A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Many people actually believed in trolls, elves and dragons. But why does Fantasy persist, even thrive, in the modern period? How do we define Fantasy as a genre? We will ask such questions as we adventure in the worlds of William Morris, George MacDonald, Lord Dunsany, E. R. Eddison, Robert E. Howard, J. R. R. Tolkien and Stephen R. Donaldson. We will investigate our need for quests, explore the unknown and unusual, and encounter characters that defy the categories of being. III. Course Objectives --develop a definition of the fantasy genre and identify representative texts of both the genre as a whole and its emerging subgenres in order to examine the concept of genre itself, its usefulness and limitations. --identify the medieval and Renaissance roots of the material upon which the fantasy genre draws. --understand the historical, philosophical, and cultural aspects of the rise and continuation of the fantasy genre throughout the modern period. --examine key examples of fantasy novels and understand how those examples represent major stages in the development/transformation of the genre. ...

1. Modern Fantasy Literature: Essay Ideas
Choose one of the idea and you have to write about it
specifically and you can’t choose more than one.
You may use these ideas as starting points and discover your
own unique angle on the topic/question.
Remember to have a thesis (a main point that controls the entire
essay) and support your ideas with textual evidence (references
and quotations). Also concluding paragraph. The idea has to be
relating to one of the books we used in class.
The essay (5 pages, typed and double-spaced)
How has fantasy paradoxically developed alongside modern
science?
How does fantasy question the nature of truth?
How does some fantasy rationalize the otherworld?
What are the narrative structures of some fantasy (such as
adventures)?
In what ways is fantasy symbolic?
How does the protagonist (“hero”) develop through the fantasy
narrative?
How does fantasy explore the idea of Time?
How does fantasy explore the nature of romantic relationships?
In what ways does fantasy explore the possibility of
otherworldly beings?
Why is setting important? What is the nature of some
representative features (landscapes through which the hero
adventures)
* More info these the books we use in class
1- George MacDonald, Phantastes (1858). Dover, 2005.
2- William Morris, The Wood beyond the World (1894).
Wildside Press, 2005.
3- Lord Dunsany, The King of Elfland’s Daughter (1924). Del

2. Rey, 1999.
4- Robert E. Howard, The Coming of Conan the
Cimmerian (1930s). Del Rey, 2003.
Course Description
The fantastic has been around in literature as early as the
medieval and Renaissance periods and even earlier (Beowulf,
the King Arthur legends, The Faerie Queene, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream). Many people actually believed in trolls, elves
and dragons. But why does Fantasy persist, even thrive, in the
modern period? How do we define Fantasy as a genre? We will
ask such questions as we adventure in the worlds of William
Morris, George MacDonald, Lord Dunsany, E. R. Eddison,
Robert E. Howard, J. R. R. Tolkien and Stephen R. Donaldson.
We will investigate our need for quests, explore the unknown
and unusual, and encounter characters that defy the categories
of being.
III. Course Objectives
--develop a definition of the fantasy genre and identify
representative texts of both the genre as a whole and its
emerging subgenres in order to examine the concept of genre
itself, its usefulness and limitations.
--identify the medieval and Renaissance roots of the material
upon which the fantasy genre draws.
--understand the historical, philosophical, and cultural aspects
of the rise and continuation of the fantasy genre throughout the
modern period.
--examine key examples of fantasy novels and understand how
those examples represent major stages in the
development/transformation of the genre.