As this semester comes to a close and we have begun the process of ending our discussion of British fantasy literature, I find the difficulty of exactly pinning down a definition for fantasy most intriguing. Common sense says that in order to have a class on a particular subject you must be able to define what that subject is, however this sort of logic does not seem to apply to our situation. Granted we can give a foggy list of guidelines, but what we can not do is give a distinct set of perimeters. However, this lack of certainty has enabled me to from my own opinion on the matter and it is here that I will share it.
I believe that the single most important thing for a fantasy story to posses, that is the one factor that fantasy cannot exist without is that the story must take place in the past. this may not seem like a significant factor to some, but if a fairy tale or fantasy takes pace in any other location in time it is no longer fantasy. If The Hobbit, Phantastes, or Wood Beyond The World took place in the future they would have become science fiction and if they had taken place in the present they would be nothing more than stores of adventure. Fantasies can occur in many places and encompass many things but they must stay in the past to remain what they are. Besides this, the only other ingredient needed for fantasy in my opinion is magic or the supernatural. Once again, if The Hobbit, Phantastes, or Wood Beyond The World excluded magic they would be merely adventure stories and would lack anything that made them enter into the realm of the fantastic.
That is what I think at least. Does anyone disagree or have more insight into the matter?
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