REALITIES REIMAGINED: ACCESSING FANTASTIC BODIES AND MINDS THROUGH THE REALISTIC IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH FANTASY
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2024
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The resurgence of fantasy literature in recent years inspired the reexamination of the connection between the possible and the impossible. Nineteenth-century Britain experienced remarkable social changes and developments. Political reforms, industrialization, modernization, feminist movements, and other forms of social movements greatly shifted the lives of its citizens. At the same time, these changes inspired a group of writers to create a new form of literature which included fantastic elements and yet varied from myths and legends. In addition, these writers also address the limitations of the prominent literary form—realism—exhibited. These fantasy texts are innovative and highly personalized with reflections of the fantasists’ psychological views and their social standings. This project examines how these writers utilize fantastic elements to connect and adapt to social changes while exercising their creative expressions. This project includes four major fantasy texts produced in the 19th century that display significance in defining social conditions in relation to individuals: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I identify a group of fantasy texts where the primary world is largely included while new rules are added to suit the authors’ specific needs. The fantastic elements are invented as additions to the world as we know it. These creations employ specific psychological powers to change personalities, engage with moral issues, and even transform social conditions.
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Literature, British, Fantasy Literature, Nineteenth Century, Reality
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260 pages
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