"Fantasy doesn't need defending. It is one of the great cultural forms at the moment, all-pervading, ubiquitous. Maybe even the dominant form of writing just now, in line with the bookseller's joke that contemporary publishing divides into A: romantasy and B: everything else. But it might need explaining a little bit, for those who don't get its pleasures; who still see it as wish-fulfilment, or as a low form that literary fiction gets to look down upon or direct a puzzled tolerance towards."
"As a writer of literary fiction who has borrowed and rejoiced in fantasy tropes for years, and has now himself written an out-and-out fantasy, I'm beyond embarrassment. I've been reading and loving fantasy all my life, and for me its best creators stand comfortably alongside the greats of any genre. And yet, I'm still encountering a faint sense that there is something to be accounted for in writing fantasy."
"None of what I'm about to say is going to strike my fellow lovers of the genre as even slightly necessary. We can just assume its joys, assume that like any form of writing it features solid good stuff, works of brilliance, and also extruded polystyrene product and then proceed to specifics. Portal fantasy or epic? Urban fantasy or fantasy of manners? Romantasy or grimdark? Cosy or horror-inflected?"
Fantasy currently functions as an all-pervading, possibly dominant cultural form with broad popular reach. Some observers still dismiss fantasy as mere wish-fulfilment or a low form that invites puzzled tolerance from literary fiction. Literary fiction techniques often borrow and rejoice in fantasy tropes, and writers may feel no embarrassment adopting out-and-out fantasy. There can be a perception that choices about dragons and other tropes require justification despite cultural prevalence. Readers and writers navigate many subgenres: portal, epic, urban, fantasy of manners, romantasy, grimdark, cosy, and horror-inflected. Distinct lineages include Tolkien's tradition, Ursula K. Le Guin's feminist strain, and contemporary innovators like NK Jemisin, Katherine Addison, Guy Gavriel Kay, Jeff VanderMeer, China Mieville, and Tamsyn Muir.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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