Open AccessWilliam Morris and the critical utopia of high fantasy
Author(s) -
Matic Večko
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
acta neophilologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2350-417X
pISSN - 0567-784X
DOI - 10.4312/an.42.1-2.45-55
Subject(s) - fantasy , utopia , popularity , perspective (graphical) , formative assessment , literature , art , aesthetics , art history , sociology , psychology , visual arts , social psychology , pedagogy
The novels The Wood Beyond the World (1894) and The Weil at the World's End (1896) by William Morris are considered the formative works of the type of literature which has been labelled high fantasy. The latter is one of the commercially most successful genres of fantasy literature. The two novels are analysed from the perspective of critical utopianism as articulated through a distinctive type of aesthetic structure which was established in these works and has become characteristic of the high fantasy literature. The author of the article suggests that it is this complex of aesthetic structiire-aiid ifs iiiherent iitopian lmpulse which may be one of the important faciors-in the perennia popularity of high fantasy.