Fantasy, Myth and the Measure of Truth

From Tolkien Gateway
Fantasy, Myth and the Measure of Truth: Tales of Pullman, Lewis, Tolkien, MacDonald and Hoffmann
Fantasy, Myth and the Measure of Truth.jpg
AuthorWilliam Gray
PublisherBasingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan
Released12 November 2008
Paperback: 13 August 2010
FormatHardback/Paperback
Pages232
ISBN978-0-230-00505-1 (hardback)
978-0-230-27285-9 (paperback)

Fantasy, Myth and the Measure of Truth: Tales of Pullman, Lewis, Tolkien, MacDonald and Hoffmann is a study of the influence of German romanticism in the works of British fantasy writers George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Philip Pullman.

From the publisher[edit | edit source]

'Fantasy, Myth and the Measure of Truth' offers a detailed examination and discussion of the highly contested tradition of epic or high fantasy culminating in Pullman's His Dark Materials. This trajectory of mythopoeia or myth-making has its roots in the quest by a range of Romantic writers to transpose certain spiritual and moral values, once believed to be the prerogative of organized religion, into new myths. Critical of myths that are merely escapist fantasies, this study is also suspicious of totalizing 'grand narratives' that repress dissenting voices. The study nevertheless argues that, at its best, this mythopoeic tradition, which includes E.T.A. Hoffmann, George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Philip Pullman and - debatably - J.K. Rowling, can show the power of the creative imagination to generate, through stories that are imaginatively true, a renewed spiritual and moral vision.

Contents[edit | edit source]

  • List of Abbreviations
  • Prelude: Pullman's 'High Argument'
  • German Roots and Mangelwurzels
  • George MacDonald's Marvellous Medicine
  • J.R.R. Tolkien and the Love of Faery
  • C.S. Lewis: Reality and the Radiance of Myth
  • Measuring Truth: Lyra's Story
  • Postscript: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and All
  • Index