Synopses & Reviews
From the ancient tales of long-dead civilizations to the wild success of J. R. R. Tolkien's
Lord of the Rings, fantasy has fired our imaginations for as long as there has been story. Whether sweeping sagas of fantastic adventures or cautionary tales told around the campfire, fantasy is deeply woven into the very fabric of humanity, wearing many faces and coming in many flavors. But what fantasy is distinctly American?
The American Fantasy Tradition sets out to answer this very question. This comprehensive critical anthology of American fantasy literature applies the groundbreaking theorems of such esteemed American literary critics as Leslie Fiedler, Richard Chase, and Irving Howe to the genre of fantasy in an effort to delineate the true American tradition of fantasy from the more prominent Anglo-European canon, breaking it down into three distinctive strains:
The American Tale: Folk, Tall, and Weird
Stories that might be considered fables or legends, much like the epics of the Age of Heroes from the classical eras of Rome and Greece, or the tales of the fairy folk from the European tradition, or the fables of Aesop.
Fantastic Americana
Stories set directly within the American historic landscape, much as the Arthurian tradition is set within the confines of British history.
Lands of Enchantment in Everyday Life
Stories that involve what might be called the American spirit, focusing on worlds that exist in the shadows of our own, just beyond Rod Serling's famous signpost for The Twilight Zone.
Review
"The largest, most comprehensive, and
best anthology of American fantasy literature I have ever seen."—Terence Malley, editor of the
Writers for the Seventies series"A fine overview of some of the most important American fantasy written since Washington Irving right on up to our day. I highly recommend this fine collection."—Ray Bradbury
Synopsis
The ancient tales of long-dead civilizations to the wild success of J. R. R. Tolkiens
Lord of the Rings, fantasy has fired our imaginations for as long as there has been story. Whether sweeping sagas of fantastic adventures or cautionary tales told around the campfire, fantasy is deeply woven into the very fabric of humanity, wearing many faces and coming in many flavors.
But what fantasy is distinctly American?
The American Fantasy Tradition sets out to answer this very question. This comprehensive critical anthology of American fantasy literature applies the groundbreaking theorems of such esteemed American literary critics as Leslie Fiedler, Richard Chase, and Irving Howe to the genre of fantasy in an effort to delineate the true American tradition of fantasy from the more prominent Anglo-European canon, breaking it down into three distinctive strains:
The American Tale: Folk, Tall, and Weird
Stories that might be considered fables or legends, much like the epics of the Age of Heroes from the classical eras of Rome and Greece, or the tales of the fairy folk from the European tradition, or the fables of Aesop.
Fantastic Americana
Stories set directly within the American historic landscape, much as the Arthurian tradition is set within the confines of British history.
Lands of Enchantment in Everyday Life
Stories that involve what might be called the American spirit, focusing on worlds that exist in the shadows of our own, just beyond Rod Serlings famous signpost for The Twilight Zone.
About the Author
Brian M. Thomsen is a Tor Consulting editor who dropped out of pursuing a Ph.D. in English in favor of a career in publishing. He was one of the founding editors of Warner/Popular Library's Questar Science Fiction & Fantasy line, and the editor of C.J.Cherryh's Hugo Award winning novel
Cyteen. He has also been a Hugo nominee, has served as a World Fantasy Award judge, and is the author of two novels and numerous short stories for such publishers as Tor, Daw, Ace, TSR, and others.
He was born in the borough of Brooklyn where he currently resides with his wife, Donna, and two talented cats named Sparky and Minx.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction: An Approach to an American Fantasy Tradition
Part I: Folk, Tall, and Weird Tales
Rip Van Winkle: Washington Irving
Feathertop: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Uncle Remus: Joel Chandler Harris
The Saga of Pecos Bill: Edward O'Reilly
Rosy's Journey: Louisa May Alcott
The Yellow Sign: Robert W. Chambers
The Mysterious Shadow Over Innsmouth: H.P. Lovecraft
Oh Ugly Bird!: Manly Wade Wellman
The Fool: David Drake
Narrow Valley: R.A. Lafferty
Jackalope: Alan Dean Foster
The Lottery: Shirley Jackson
Children of the Corn: Stephen King
Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight: Ursula K. Le Guin
Part II: Fantastic Americana
The Jolly Corner: Henry James
A Ghost Story: Mark Twain
The Other Lodgers: Ambrose Bierce
Ma'ame Pelagie: Kate Chopin
The Devil and Daniel Webster: Stephen Vincent Benét
The Valley Was Still: Manly Wade Wellman
The Howling Man: Charles Beaumont
Twenty-Three: Avram Davidson
We Are the Dead: Henry Kuttner
Where the Summer Ends: Karl Edward Wagner
Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa: W.P. Kinsella
Hatrack River: Orson Scott Card
The Hero of the Night: Bradley Denton
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs: Harlan Ellison
Part III: Lands of Enchantment and Everyday Life
The Griffin and the Minor Canon: Frank Stockton
The Enchanted Buffalo: L. Frank Baum
The Yellow Wall-Paper: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Moving Finger: Edith Wharton
Slow Sculpture: Theodore Sturgeon
The Coin Collector: Jack Finney
Prey: Richard Matheson
The Geezenstacks: Fredric Brown
Paladin of the Lost Hour: Harlan Ellison
The Black Ferris: Ray Bradbury
Bed & Breakfast: Gene Wolfe
Dead Run: Greg Bear
Her Pilgrim Soul: Alan Brennert
Mrs. Todd's Shortcut: Stephen King
Among the Handlers: Michael Bishop
Select Critical Bibliography