The Encyclopedia of Fantasy

"The Encyclopedia of Fantasy" is a 1997 reference work on fantasy, edited by John Clute and John Grant. Other contributors include Mike Ashley, Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, David Langford, Sam J. Lundwall, Michael Scott Rohan, Brian Stableford and Lisa Tuttle. The book was well-received upon publication. During 1998, it received the Hugo Award, World Fantasy Award, and Locus Award. The industry publication "Library Journal" described "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy" as "the first of its kind".

ummary

The "Encyclopedia" was published in a format matching the 1993 second edition of "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction". It is slightly smaller, containing 1,049 alphabetical pages, over 4,000 entries and approximately one million words, the bulk of which were written by Clute, Grant and Ashley. A later CD-ROM edition contains numerous revisions.

The "Encyclopedia" uses a similar system of categorization to "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", but does not include an index of theme entries. One of the major differences is that there are no entries related to publishing.

The "Encyclopedia" often invented new terms for theme entries, rather than using headings that may have previously appeared in critical literature. Examples include:

* "Instauration Fantasy": a story concerning the restoration of past glories.
* "Thinning": the gradual loss or decay of magic or vitality.
* "Wainscots": secret societies hiding from the mainstream of society, as in Mary Norton's "The Borrowers".
* "Water Margins": shifting or ill-defined boundaries, used as both a physical description and a metaphor; derived from the Japanese television adaptation of "The Water Margin".
* "Polder": defined as "enclaves of toughened reality demarcated by boundaries" that are entered by crossing a threshold.
* "Crosshatch": A situation where the demarcation line between two realities is blurred and "two or more worlds may simultaneously inhabit the same territory"--such as in William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
* "Taproot texts": examples of fantasy literature that predates the emergence of fantasy as a genre in the late 18th century, such as Shakespeare's "The Tempest."
* "Pariah elite": a marginalized but uniquely talented or knowledgable minority.
* "Into the woods": the process of transformation or passage into a new world signaled by entering woods or forests.
* "Wrongness": the growing awareness that something is "wrong" in the world, such as when the Hobbits first glimpse the Nazgûl in "The Lord of the Rings".
*"Slick Fantasy": a style of Fantasy writing which uses certain specific themes: typically a Pact with the Devil; three wishes; or identity exchange. So named because these were the fantasy stories mostly likely to be published by slick magazines, as opposed to pulp magazines.

Reception

Reviews

Characterizing the book as "an excellent and highly readable source for fantasy", the industry publication "Library Journal" described "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy" as "the first of its kind". cite journal
last = Dollard
first = Peter A.
authorlink =
title = "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy"
journal = Library Journal
volume =
issue = 1 October 1997
pages =
date = 1997
url = http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/BookDetail.aspx?isbn=0312158971
accessdate = 2008-07-10]

Awards

* 1998 - Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book. cite web
title = Hugo Awards: 1998 Hugo Awards
url = http://www.thehugoawards.org/?page_id=22
accessdate = 2008-07-10 ]
* 1998 - . cite web
title = World Fantasy Convention: 1998 World Fantasy Award Winners and Nominees
url = http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/1998.html
accessdate = 2008-07-10 ]
* 1998 - Locus Award for Nonfiction. cite web
title = The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1998 Locus Awards
url = http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/Locus1998.html
accessdate = 2008-07-10 ]

References

* Clute, John and Grant, John. "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy" (1st UK edition). London: Orbit Books, 1997. ISBN 978-1857233681. (Hardcover)
* Clute, John and Grant, John. "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy". New York: St Martin's Press, 1997. ISBN 0-312-15897-1. (Hardcover)
* Clute, John and Grant, John. "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy" (2nd US edition). New York: St Martin's Griffin, 1999. ISBN 0-312-19869-8. (Paperback)

External links

* [http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Misc/fec.html addenda to the Encyclopedia of Fantasy]
* [http://www.mythsoc.org/eofrev.html Review by Wayne G. Hammond]
* [http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/clute.html Review by Steven H. Silver]