Walking the Wall

Creating my own class for next fall–of course, I’ll be the only student, but regardless, actually being able to pick my own reading list and pursue topics of interest to myself is a fantastic cherry on the top of being done with the semester today. I’ve always wanted to take a class on fantasy literature and I dream of teaching a class on fantasy literature–so this is the next best thing. I’ll be doing (as long as it passes the committee) an independent study class to substitute in for my last needed literature credit–20th century literature. In order to do an independent study, the class can’t be something that is offered. Since I had such an enjoyable time researching the progression of the fairy tale for my final project, I thought following the development of the fantasy genre in the 20th century would be perfect.

I’ve spent the last week mulling over a text list and last night until 1:30am really playing around with texts trying to fit them into several parameters:

1. Time frame: I need to allow for plenty of time to read the pieces along with secondary sources, while still leaving time for papers. To that end, working up a potential schedule was helpful in seeing I was being to ambitious and had to cut out a book and limit two authors to selected short stories instead of whole books of short stories. I cut The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks which I had originally included because it was the first fantasy book to make it on and then top the New York Times Bestseller list. It was a good example of “Sword & Sorcery” style fantasy genre, however I felt a gender balance was more important.
2. Time period: Being a 20th century literature class, the books need to be within the twentieth century.
3. Gender: I wanted to have a mix of male and female authors for multiple reasons, one of which is that I wanted to focus one of the papers on women writers in the fantasy genre.
4. Theme: For the most part I tried to come up with a chronological list that would show the progression of fantasy literature in the 20th century. I ran into a bump in trying to remain chronological, but fill one particular time slot with a female author that also contributed something unique to the reading list. I’m torn between Robin McKinley’s Deerskin–which is a retelling of an old fable Donkyskin–Gael Baudino’s Strands of Starlight. I’d love to use McKinley’s Sunshine as a great female companion to de Lint and Gaiman but that is past the time period cut off. In the interest in maintaining important themes, I think I’m going to use Deerskin in a place that is slightly off chronology.

It has been a lot of fun, although a little stressful as I’ve been trying to pull it all together to get the proposal ready for my supervising professor as she’ll have to get it approved. I’ve read all of the books on the list, except for Le Guin’s short stories, at one time or another (I’m currently re-reading Neverwhere to make sure it fits in the scheme of things), but I don’t consider that a downside. There are specific reasons that I picked each book and they are all worth many re-readings–especially as I’ll be reading them with specific themes and issues in mind. So the final list (barring input from my professor) and why I have chosen them are:

1. The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany
   1. ISBN: 034543191X
   2. Year: 1924
   3. Relevance: Considered one of the father’s of fantastic fiction and his influence can be seen in one of the first popular books in fantasy (J.R.R. Tolkien) as well as in modern writers today (Neil Gaimen)
2. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
   1. ISBN: 0618391118
   2. Year: 1977
   3. Relevance: Considered The father of high fantasy literature, Tolkien’s influence can be seen in almost any and all fantasy fiction. While The Silmarillion was actually published in 1977 (thank you, Sherry!) after his death, the stories it contains are some of Tolkien’s original pieces that he started developing in 1917. These stories were used as the backdrop to develop his books The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. While The Hobbit came out in 1937 in England, it wasn’t until the 1960s that it became popular in the United States.
3. The Wind’s Twelve Quarters by Ursula Le Guin (assorted short stories)
   1. ISBN: 0060125624
   2. Year: 1975
   3. Relevance: Along with Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, Le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy pushed forward the popularity of fantasy literature and shows an early presence of female authors. While the book of short stories was released in 1975, the stories I’ll be focusing on actually predate and set up the Earthsea trilogy.
4. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip
   1. ISBN: 0152008691
   2. Year: 1974
   3. Relevance: Patricia McKillip is an extremely prolific writer who is an excellent example of a very lyrical style of fantasy writing. This book won the Best Novel category of the World Fantasy Award in 1975.
5. Deerskin by Robin McKinley
   1. ISBN: 0441012396
   2. Year: 1994
   3. Relevance: While McKinley wrote a number of novels that would follow the chronological look at fantasy in the 20^th century, Deerskin is an excellent example of what needed to change about the role of women in fantasy literature itself and how modern female fantasy authors were taking on the role of reshaping women in fantasy and fairy tale.
6. Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint (selected short stories)
   1. ISBN: 0765306794
   2. Year: 1993
   3. Relevance: Charles de Lint is an important example of a shift in fantasy literature towards mythic fiction, which is between fantasy and fiction—pulling aspects of fantasy into modern day issues. This is an important shift to note.
7. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
   1. ISBN: 0060557818
   2. Year: 1997
   3. Relevance: Neil Gaiman is another example of fantasy coming fully into the modern era, and Neverwhere in particular as it was a television series as well as made into a comic book. Gaiman takes dreams and nightmares, fairytales and modern issues, magic and mythology and mixes it together into his own brand of mythic fiction.