An anthology of essays on the nature of fantasy, focusing on the basic principles that distinguish fantasy from other literary types and making a strong argument for its place as a major approach to the understanding of the creative act in art and literature.

The Continuum Aesthetics series looks at the aesthetic questions and issues raised by all major art forms. Stimulating, engaging and highly readable, the series offers food for thought not only for students of aesthetics, but also for anyone with an interest in philosophy and the arts. Aesthetics and Literature places philosophical aesthetics at the heart of thinking about literature. The book takes concrete examples from the traditional and contemporary literary arts and uses them to introduce all the central philosophical issues in literature. David Davies considers, with stimulating insight and great clarity, the nature of literature and fiction, artistic uses of language, and the nature of fictional characters. He goes on to explore our emotional responses to literature, the cognitive value and ethical values of literature and the accountability of the literary arts. The book offers a clear, non-technical analysis of each key issue, its broader significance and the principal positions that philosophers have taken on it. Davies presents the relevant philosophical background in a manner that is accessible to philosophy students and lay readers alike. Anyone interested in the philosophy of literature will find this book a rich source of ideas, insight and information. Combining a clear and engaging style with a sophisticated treatment of a fascinating subject, Aesthetics and Literature is a valuable contribution to contemporary aesthetics.

Offering an ambitious study of the aesthetics of violence across art, literature, film and theatre, this volume brings together traditional German aesthetic and social theory with the modern problem of violence in art. Written in an engaging style, the book includes examples ranging from Homer and Shakespeare to slasher films and performance art.

Drawing comparisons with other art forms, this book examines the role of aesthetic features in silent reading, such as narrative structure, and the core experience of reading a novel as a story rather than a scholarly exercise. Focuses on the experience of the art form known as the novel Uses the more common perspective of a reader who reads to be told a story, rather than for scholarly or critical analysis Draws comparisons with experience of the other arts, music in particular Explores the different effects of a range of narrative approaches

These thirteen original essays were written specifically for the Third J. Lloyd Eaton Conference on Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, held February 21-22, 1981, at the University of California, Riverside. Leslie Fiedler sets the tone of this volume by fixing a basic set of coordinates--that of "elitist" and "popular" standards. Those replying to his charge are: Eric S. Rabkin, Professor of English at the Univer­sity of Michigan and author of The Fantasticin Literature, "The Descent of Fantasy"; Gerald Prince, Professor of French at the University of Pennsylvania, "How New is New?"; Mark Rose, Professor of English at the University of California at Santa Barbara, author of Alien Encounters, "Jules Verne: Journey to the Cen­ter of Science Fiction"; Joseph Lenz, who teaches English Literature at the University of Michigan, "Manifest Destiny: Science Fic­tion Epic and Classical Forms"; Michelle Massé, of the English Department at the George Mason University, "'All you have to do is know what you want' Individual Ex­pectations in Triton";Gary K. Wolfe, who teaches English at Roosevelt University, au­thor of The Known and the Unknown, "Autoplastic and Alloplastic Adaptations in Science Fiction: 'Waldo' and 'Desertion'"; Robert Hunt, an editor with Glencoe Press, "Sci­ence Fiction for the Age of Inflation: Reading Atlas Shrugged in the 1980s"; George R. Guffey, Professor of English at UCLA, "Fahr­enheit 451and the 'Cubby-Hole Editors' of Ballantine Books"; H. Bruce Franklin, Pro­fessor of English and American Literature at Rutgers University at Newark, "America as Science Fiction: 1939"; Sandra M. Gilbert, Professor of English at the University of Cal­ifornia at Davis, and coauthor with Susan Gubar of Madwoman in the Attic, "Rider Hag­gard's Heart of Darkness"; the aforemen­tioned Susan Gubar, Professor of English at Indiana University, "She in Her/and: Femi­nism as Fantasy"; and George R. Slusser, Cu­rator of the Eaton Collection, "Death and the Mirror: Existential Fantasy."

The notion of aesthetic illusion relates to a number of art forms and media. Defined as a pleasurable mental state that emerges during the reception of texts and artefacts, it amounts to the reader's or viewer's sense of having entered the represented world while at the same time keeping a distance from it. Aesthetic Illusion in Literature and the Arts is an in-depth study of the main questions surrounding this experience of art as reality. Beginning with an introduction providing historical background to modern discussions of illusion, it deals with a wide range of theoretical issues. The collection explores the nature and function of the aesthetic illusion as well as the role of affect and emotion, the implications of aesthetic illusion for the theory of fiction, the variable forms of aesthetic illusion and its relationship to other components of aesthetic response. Aesthetic Illusion in Literature and the Arts brings together a team of scholars from philosophy, literature and art and presents an interdisciplinary examination of a concept lying at the heart of contemporary aesthetics.