Readers In Wonderland The Liberating Worlds of Fantasy Fiction

by O'Keefe, Deborah

• ISBN13: 9780826416490
• ISBN10: 0826416497
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-03
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Readers in Wonderland ranges from William Steigs small picture books to J. R. R. Tolkiens epic series; from utopias like L. Frank Baums Oz to dystopias like Virginia Hamiltons Dustland; from less known works like Patricia Wrightsons to the phenomenon that is J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter.

Table of Contents

Preface	9	(2)
Introduction: How to Make Sense of a World	11	(16)
From Alice to Harry	13	(3)
What Fantasy Fiction Does to Us	16	(6)
Setting Forth	22	(5)
1 A Child Goes into the World	27	(26)
Brief Excursions	28	(5)
Fantasy Tales and Their Readers	33	(2)
The Question behind the Quest	35	(4)
The Voice of the Storyteller	39	(5)
How to Frighten a Child	44	(9)
2 Lighter Worlds: Living in Harmony and Balance	53	(29)
Heroes Who Don't Go Home	54	(7)
Celebrating the Community	61	(5)
Since 1950	66	(9)
Marvelous Places	75	(7)
3 Shifting Worlds: Playing with Time and Space	82	(31)
The Big, the Little, and the Good	85	(7)
Masters of Magic	92	(8)
Time Travel Is Good for You	100	(4)
Tangled Times	104	(6)
The Middle of the Journey: Looking Around	110	(3)
4 Bigger Worlds: Finding the Way	113	(23)
Junior Epics and Animal Magic	115	(8)
In the Dragon's Belly, in the Skunk's DNA	123	(5)
The Comic Epics	128	(8)
5 Worlds Stained by Humankind: Making Choices	136	(30)
Mind Has Mountains, Cliffs of Fall	137	(5)
Unraveling the Past	142	(4)
The Child in Worlds Where Evil Rules	146	(7)
Where the Future Takes Us	153	(7)
Weaving Wild Stories	160	(6)
6 Battlefield Worlds: Fighting Tyranny and Chaos	166	(41)
The Great Tradition	167	(12)
Today's Classics	179	(7)
New Mythologies	186	(8)
Worlds Beyond	194	(8)
Tales of Joy and Pain	202	(5)
Bibliography	207	(8)
Index	215