border between definite real and unreal, authors use the parasitical/symbiotic relationship Jackson spoke of. Other fiction, which is able to function as the object or as the image, exists in a dialogue with itself; it is already grounded. Fantasy literature needs the reality found in other fiction, as a means of crossing over to the real. That paraxial area, the border between worlds, not only grounds fantasy literature, but gives it access to reality. This grounding of fantasy in reality is what causes the break in reality, because by acknowledging what’s real, fantasy can expose it. fantastic is a spectral “The presence, suspended between being and nothingness. It takes the real and breaks it,” (Jackson, 20). Mainstream fiction literature can exist independently of our reality because it lives in our reality; fantasy literature does not have that luxury. And despite the stereotypes that influence people’s expectations of the genre, fantasy literature has more than enough merit to accomplish this complex narrative agenda of exposing reality. Brian Attebery provides a definition of fantasy that affirms the importance of fantasy literature’s relationship to reality, and showcases exactly what fantasy literature can accomplish using the reader’s uncertainty. Attebery sees fantasy as existing in two states simultaneously: fantasy as a formula and fantasy as a mode. The first acknowledges the trend of fantasy as “a form of popular escapist literature,” (1), which lives comfortably in the world of generic fantasy tropes: dragons, wizards, young heroes, and more. The second states that fantasy as a mode is characterized with playfulness, self-reflexiveness, and a subversive treatment of “stylistic established orders of society and thought,” (Attebery, 1). Fantasy literature as a mode, according to Attebery, fits perfectly within the sphere of legitimate fiction. It is a much more aware narrative than its cousin, the form. It can play with expectations, find ways to subvert the given tropes of the genre, and comes with a heightened
border between definite real and unreal, authors use the parasitical/symbiotic relationship Jackson spoke of. Other fiction, which is able to function as the object or as the image, exists in a dialogue with itself; it is already grounded. Fantasy literature needs the reality found in other fiction, as a means of crossing over to the real. That paraxial area, the border between worlds, not only grounds fantasy literature, but gives it access to reality. This grounding of fantasy in reality is what causes the break in reality, because by acknowledging what’s real, fantasy can expose it. “The fantastic is a spectral presence, suspended between being and nothingness. It takes the real and breaks it,” (Jackson, 20). Mainstream fiction literature can exist independently of our reality because it lives in our reality; fantasy literature does not have that luxury. And despite the stereotypes that influence people’s expectations of the genre, fantasy literature has more than enough merit to accomplish this complex narrative agenda of exposing reality. Brian Attebery provides a definition of fantasy that affirms the importance of fantasy literature’s relationship to reality, and showcases exactly what fantasy literature can accomplish using the reader’s uncertainty. Attebery sees fantasy as existing in two states simultaneously: fantasy as a formula and fantasy as a mode. The first acknowledges the trend of fantasy as “a form of popular escapist literature,” (1), which lives comfortably in the world of generic fantasy tropes: dragons, wizards, young heroes, and more. The second states that fantasy as a mode is characterized with “stylistic playfulness, self-reflexiveness, and a subversive treatment of established orders of society and thought,” (Attebery, 1). Fantasy literature as a mode, according to Attebery, fits perfectly within the sphere of legitimate fiction. It is a much more aware narrative than its cousin, the form. It can play with expectations, find ways to subvert the given tropes of the genre, and comes with a heightened