Howdy, strangers!
Sadly I had to miss the first day of class, ( *sniffle*) so only a few of you will recognize my name. (YO Janessa and Amy!) Despite my lack of attendance, I guess I'll go ahead and break the blog ice.
In my temperate opinion, Fantasy, as a genre, is an art form only slightly more specific than the general label of 'fiction.' It encompasses anything involving worlds with altered natural laws from our own. This includes but is in no way limited to: other universes where magic is quite normal; our own world, tweaked so that supernatural laws actually exist; historical fiction dealing with mystical happenings; and this world bordering (and sometimes overlapping into) a fey realm. Wow. Just trying to define this genre makes it painfully obvious how incapable I am of doing so. Artists dealing with Fantasy can create their own rules about the way their crafted dimension works. This allows them to explore anything from obscure philosophical notions to just how outrageously fun the human imagination can be.
Some examples of said genre ( a drop in the proverbial bucket ):
George R.R. Martin's A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, Jim Butcher's THE DRESDEN FILES and CODEX ALERA, Greg Keyes' KINGDOM OF THORN AND BONE, Terry Pratchett anything, SOME Anne McCaffrey (other McCaffrey slips into Sci-Fi), THE LORD OF THE RINGS, FINAL FANTASY games, Naruto (go ahead and laugh at me. I didn't start watching it of my own free will), Dungeons and Dragons role-playing games, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, WILLOW... I think I'll stop there before I hurt myself.
My experience with Fantasy started long ago and hopefully won't end any time soon. Being a nerdy kid looking for some Freudian Escapist way to ignore the fact that I didn't have many friends in elementary school really helped me discover a love of reading. And what did I love to read, you ask? Why, Fantasy! I answer. Despite the fact that I have added social activity to my repetoire, I've never given up that childlike love of anything out of the ordinary. I'm currently on pins and needles waiting for the completion of about five fantasy series, and I still occasionally play D & D with some other geeky Blount kids.
I'll see you guys in class!
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AND hows about we add some Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emily Bronte, and Edgar Allan Poe to the list of examples just to show how pervasively versatile Fantasy actually is?
*grins* So you got in after all, huh? Does this mean that there's 4 people from the last class in this one as well?
By my count, Renee, yes, four of you: Amy, Casey, Janessa and you.
Whoo! I'm glad that you got into the class, too! And how could I judge you for Naruto. The boys I babysat made me watch it until I wanted to know what happened, so I feel your pain!
yay geeky blount kids (I am one myself :). as for the insanely broad terms of "fantasy" and just what exactly it includes i couldn't agree more. i really think its like we talked about in class, fantasy is in the eye of the believer.
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