Imaginary Worlds - the Art of Fantasy

Infobox Book
name = Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of the first edition
author = Lin Carter
illustrator =
cover_artist = Gervasio Gallardo
country = U.S.A.
language = English
series = Ballantine Adult Fantasy series
subject =
genre =
publisher = Ballantine Books
release_date = 1973
english_release_date =
media_type =
pages =
isbn = 0-345-03309-4
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy" is a study of the modern literary fantasy genre written by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in June, 1973 as the fifty-eighth volume of its celebrated "Ballantine Adult Fantasy series"; it was the only nonfiction entry in the series. The book was among the earliest full-length critical works devoted to fantasy writers and the history of fantasy. It was the third of three such studies by Carter, being preceded by ' (1969) and ' (1972). These works, together with his editorial guidance of the "Ballantine Adult Fantasy series", established Carter as an authority on the genre.

Carter's study was intended to serve as an introduction to fantasy. The first eight chapters detail the history of the modern genre from the late nineteenth century through the early 1970s, when Carter was writing, a subject he had previously covered more briefly in "Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings". Its origins are discovered in the novels of William Morris, and followed through the writings of Lord Dunsany, E. R. Eddison and James Branch Cabell. Separate attention is then devoted to the subsequent development of fantasy in America and Britain, focusing on the pulp magazine tradition in the former and the continuing dominance of the more literary tradition in the latter. The work of contemporary fantasists is then detailed. Three additional chapters form a sort of "how to" course on the writing of fantasy, illustrated with examples from Carter's own writings. (Some of these, like "The White Throne" and "Khymyrium", bear the peculiar interest of being works in progress or projected that in the event were never published in complete form.) Bibliographies of general references and the "Ballantine Adult Fantasy series" complete the study.

From the cover blurb:

"Like Lin Carter's other ... “Look behind” volumes (on J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P.Lovecraft), this book examines the background and creation of the imaginary worlds of some of the most famous writers to appear in the field of Adult Fantasy...

"IMAGINARY WORLDS is a book about fantasy, about the men who write it, and how it is written. It is a joyful excursion by a man who himself loves fantasy, into the origins and the magicks of such writers as Dunsany, Eddison, Cabell: it examines the rise of fantasy in the American pulp magazines and delights in the sturdy health of 'sword and sorcery': it looks with pleasure on the works of some modern masters and knowledgeably explores the techniques of world-making.

"It is, in short, a happy exploration of worlds, and men, and writers, and writings, by an author whose enthusiasm for his subject is boundless -- and is thus a joyful guide for fantasy lovers everywhere."

Contents

*Introduction: The Empire of Imagination…
#From Uruk to Utterbol: William Morris and the First Fantasy Novels
#The World’s Edge, and Beyond: The Fiction of Dunsany, Eddison, and Cabell
#Lost Cities, Forgotten Ages: The Rise of Fantasy in the American Pulp Magazines
#The Mathematics of magic: Imaginary Worlds Fantasy in "Unknown"
#From The Night Land to Narnia: The Road to "The Lord of the Rings"
#The Inklings Produce a Classic: The Achievement of Tolkien and His Influence
#Post-Howardian Heroica: The Swordsman and Sorcerers’ Guild of America, Ltd
#The Young Magicians: Some Modern Masters of Fantasy
#Of World-Making: Some Problems of the Invented Milieu
#A Local Habitation and a Name: Some Observations on Neocogomina
#The Tricks of the Trade: Some Advanced Techniques of World-Making
*Bibliography I: General References
*Bibliography II: The Adult Fantasy Series
*Index

ee also

*Fictional location
*Fantasy world