Fantasy of manners
Encyclopedia
The fantasy of manners is a subgenre
of fantasy literature
that also partakes of the nature of a comedy of manners
(though it is not necessarily humorous). Such works generally take place in an urban setting and within the confines of a fairly elaborate, and almost always hierarchical
, social structure. The term was first used in print by science fiction
critic
Donald G. Keller
in an article, The Manner of Fantasy, in the April, 1991 issue of The New York Review of Science Fiction
, although author Ellen Kushner
has said that she suggested the term to Keller . The subgenre, or a close relative to it, has also been called mannerpunk, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the cyberpunk
subgenre of science fiction.
as it does to the traditional heroic fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien
and other authors of high fantasy
. Author Teresa Edgerton
has stated that this is not what Keller originally meant by the term, but "the term has since taken on a life of its own". The protagonists are not pitted against fierce monsters or marauding armies, but against their neighbors and peers; the action takes place within a society, rather than being directed against an external foe; duels may be fought, but the chief weapons are wit and intrigue.
Major influences on the subgenre include the social novels of Jane Austen
, the drawing room comedies of P. G. Wodehouse
, and the historical romances of Georgette Heyer
. Many authors also draw from nineteenth century popular novelists such as Anthony Trollope
, the Brontë
sisters, and Charles Dickens
. Traditional romances of swashbuckling adventure
such as The Three Musketeers
by Alexandre Dumas
, The Scarlet Pimpernel
by Baroness Orczy
, or the works of Rafael Sabatini
may also be influences. The Ruritan
ian romances typified by The Prisoner of Zenda
by Anthony Hope
, or George Barr McCutcheon
's Graustark itself, are also of some consequence as literary precedents, as are the historical novels of Dorothy Dunnett
.
, fantastic races, and legendary creature
s are downplayed within the genre, or dismissed entirely. Indeed, but for the fact that the settings are usually entirely fictional, some of the books considered "fantasy of manners" could be also considered historical fiction
. Ellen Kushner
is perhaps the definitive writer of fantasy of manners tales; almost all of her novels have some of the traits of the genre, and her Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners (1987) is considered the epitome of the genre. An earlier example, and possibly the first true fantasy of manners, is the Gormenghast series
(specifically the first two books) by Mervyn Peake
.
Other writers who have written books considered to fall into the subgenre include:
A class of fantasies set in contemporary times and blending some characteristics of fantasies of manners with the subgenre urban fantasy
has been dubbed, tongue-even-further-in-cheek, elfpunk.
A postmodern style of fantasy fiction that has emerged in the first decade of the 21st century has been dubbed mythpunk by its practitioners, though the term "myth-punk" dates back to the "elf-punk" discussions of the late eighties.
Literary genre
A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, or children's. They also must not be confused...
of fantasy literature
Fantasy literature
Fantasy literature is fantasy in written form. Historically speaking, literature has composed the majority of fantasy works. Since the 1950s however, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music, painting, and other...
that also partakes of the nature of a comedy of manners
Comedy of manners
The comedy of manners is a genre of play/television/film which satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration, or an old person pretending to be young...
(though it is not necessarily humorous). Such works generally take place in an urban setting and within the confines of a fairly elaborate, and almost always hierarchical
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
, social structure. The term was first used in print by science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
critic
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
Donald G. Keller
Donald G. Keller
Donald G. Keller is a science fiction and fantasy editor and critic. He was the co-founder of Serconia Press and was Managing Editor and a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Science Fiction , where his seminal essay on Fantasy of Manners, 'The Manner of Fantasy', appeared in 1991.He...
in an article, The Manner of Fantasy, in the April, 1991 issue of The New York Review of Science Fiction
The New York Review of Science Fiction
The New York Review of Science Fiction is a monthly literary journal of science fiction that was established in 1988. It includes works of science fiction criticism, essays, and in-depth critical reviews of new works of fiction and scholarship. It is published by Dragon Press and the managing...
, although author Ellen Kushner
Ellen Kushner
Ellen Kushner is an American writer of fantasy novels, who for many years was the host of the radio program Sound & Spirit, produced by WGBH in Boston and distributed by Public Radio International.- Background and personal life :...
has said that she suggested the term to Keller . The subgenre, or a close relative to it, has also been called mannerpunk, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
subgenre of science fiction.
Influences
"Fantasy of manners" is fantasy literature that owes as much or more to the comedy of mannersComedy of manners
The comedy of manners is a genre of play/television/film which satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration, or an old person pretending to be young...
as it does to the traditional heroic fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
and other authors of high fantasy
High fantasy
High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy was brought to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s...
. Author Teresa Edgerton
Teresa Edgerton
Teresa Edgerton is an author of fantasy novels and short stories set in worlds that parallel the Middle Ages and the 18th century.-Literary biography:...
has stated that this is not what Keller originally meant by the term, but "the term has since taken on a life of its own". The protagonists are not pitted against fierce monsters or marauding armies, but against their neighbors and peers; the action takes place within a society, rather than being directed against an external foe; duels may be fought, but the chief weapons are wit and intrigue.
Major influences on the subgenre include the social novels of Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
, the drawing room comedies of P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
, and the historical romances of Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer was a British historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer...
. Many authors also draw from nineteenth century popular novelists such as Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
, the Brontë
Brontë
The Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family associated with Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte , Emily , and Anne , are well-known as poets and novelists...
sisters, and Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
. Traditional romances of swashbuckling adventure
Adventure novel
The adventure novel is a genre of novels that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme.-History:...
such as The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
by Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
, The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro and Batman....
by Baroness Orczy
Baroness Orczy
Baroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála "Emmuska" Orczy de Orczi was a British novelist, playwright and artist of Hungarian noble origin. She was most notable for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel...
, or the works of Rafael Sabatini
Rafael Sabatini
Rafael Sabatini was an Italian/British writer of novels of romance and adventure.-Life:Rafael Sabatini was born in Iesi, Italy, to an English mother and Italian father...
may also be influences. The Ruritan
Ruritanian Romance
A Ruritanian Romance is a story set in a fictional country, usually in Central or Eastern Europe, such as the Ruritania that gave the genre its name...
ian romances typified by The Prisoner of Zenda
The Prisoner of Zenda
The Prisoner of Zenda is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The king of the fictional country of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus unable to attend his own coronation. Political forces are such that in order for the king to retain his crown his...
by Anthony Hope
Anthony Hope
Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope , was an English novelist and playwright. Although he was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels, he is remembered best for only two books: The Prisoner of Zenda and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau...
, or George Barr McCutcheon
George Barr McCutcheon
George Barr McCutcheon was an American popular novelist and playwright. His best known works include the series of novels set in Graustark, a fictional East European country, Brewster's Millions, a play and several films....
's Graustark itself, are also of some consequence as literary precedents, as are the historical novels of Dorothy Dunnett
Dorothy Dunnett
Dorothy Dunnett OBE was a Scottish historical novelist. She is best known for her six-part series about Francis Crawford of Lymond, The Lymond Chronicles, which she followed with the eight-part prequel The House of Niccolò...
.
Characteristics
A typical fantasy of manners tale will involve a romantic adventure that turns on some point of social punctilio or intrigue. MagicMagic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
, fantastic races, and legendary creature
Legendary creature
A legendary creature is a mythological or folkloric creature.-Origin:Some mythical creatures have their origin in traditional mythology and have been believed to be real creatures, for example the dragon, the unicorn, and griffin...
s are downplayed within the genre, or dismissed entirely. Indeed, but for the fact that the settings are usually entirely fictional, some of the books considered "fantasy of manners" could be also considered historical fiction
Historical fiction
Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...
. Ellen Kushner
Ellen Kushner
Ellen Kushner is an American writer of fantasy novels, who for many years was the host of the radio program Sound & Spirit, produced by WGBH in Boston and distributed by Public Radio International.- Background and personal life :...
is perhaps the definitive writer of fantasy of manners tales; almost all of her novels have some of the traits of the genre, and her Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners (1987) is considered the epitome of the genre. An earlier example, and possibly the first true fantasy of manners, is the Gormenghast series
Gormenghast series
The Gormenghast series comprises three novels by Mervyn Peake, featuring Castle Gormenghast, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first book.-Works in the series:...
(specifically the first two books) by Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...
.
Other writers who have written books considered to fall into the subgenre include:
- Kage BakerKage BakerKage Baker was an American science fiction and fantasy writer.- Biography :Baker was born in Hollywood, California and lived there and in Pismo Beach most of her life. Before becoming a professional writer she spent many years in theater, including teaching Elizabethan English as a second language...
- Steven BrustSteven BrustSteven Karl Zoltán Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He was a member of the writers' group The Scribblies, which included Emma Bull, Pamela Dean, Will Shetterly, Nate Bucklin, Kara Dalkey, and Patricia Wrede; he also belongs to the Pre-Joycean...
- Emma BullEmma BullEmma Bull is a science fiction and fantasy author whose best-known novel is War for the Oaks, one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy. She has participated in Terri Windling's Borderland shared universe, which is the setting of her 1994 novel Finder...
- Susanna ClarkeSusanna ClarkeSusanna Mary Clarke is a British author best known for her debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell , a Hugo Award-winning alternate history. Clarke began Jonathan Strange in 1993 and worked on it during her spare time...
- Pamela DeanPamela DeanPamela Dean Dyer-Bennet is an American fantasy author whose most notable book is Tam Lin, based on the Child Ballad of the same name, in which the Scottish fairy story is set on a midwestern college campus loosely based on her alma mater, Carleton College in Minnesota.She was a member of the...
- E.R. Eddison
- Teresa EdgertonTeresa EdgertonTeresa Edgerton is an author of fantasy novels and short stories set in worlds that parallel the Middle Ages and the 18th century.-Literary biography:...
- John M. FordJohn M. FordJohn Milo "Mike" Ford was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet.Ford was regarded as an extraordinarily intelligent, erudite and witty man. He was a popular contributor to several online discussions...
- Barbara HamblyBarbara HamblyBarbara Hambly is an award-winning and prolific American novelist and screenwriter within the genres of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and historical fiction...
- Alexei PanshinAlexei PanshinAlexis Adams Panshin is an American author and science fiction critic. He has written several critical works and several novels, including the 1968 Nebula Award-winning novel Rite of Passage and the 1990 Hugo Award winning study of science fiction The World Beyond the Hill .-Other works:Panshin...
- Caroline StevermerCaroline StevermerCaroline Stevermer is a writer of young adult fantasy novels and shorter works. She is best known for two series of historical fantasy novels.With Patricia C...
- Charles StrossCharles StrossCharles David George "Charlie" Stross is a British writer of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and fantasy. He was born in Leeds.Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera...
(The Merchant Princes series) - Paula VolskyPaula VolskyPaula Volsky is an American fantasy author. Born in Fanwood, New Jersey, she majored in English literature at liberal arts college Vassar in New York State. At the University of Birmingham, England, she received an M.A. in Shakespearian studies. Before writing fantasy, she sold real estate and...
- Jo WaltonJo WaltonJo Walton is a Welsh-Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002 and the World Fantasy award for her novel Tooth and Claw in 2004. Her novel Ha'penny was a co-winner of the 2008 Prometheus Award...
(Tooth and ClawTooth and Claw (novel)Tooth and Claw is a fantasy novel written by Jo Walton and published by Tor Books in 2003. It won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2004.-Plot summary:...
) - Patricia C. Wrede
A class of fantasies set in contemporary times and blending some characteristics of fantasies of manners with the subgenre urban fantasy
Urban fantasy
Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods...
has been dubbed, tongue-even-further-in-cheek, elfpunk.
A postmodern style of fantasy fiction that has emerged in the first decade of the 21st century has been dubbed mythpunk by its practitioners, though the term "myth-punk" dates back to the "elf-punk" discussions of the late eighties.