The Encyclopedia of Fantasy | 
 enlarge | Authors: John Clute, John Grant
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Category: Book
Buy Used: $37.55
Used (6) from $37.55
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 638709
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised
Pages: 1088
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 7.4 x 1.9
ISBN: 0312198698
Dewey Decimal Number: 700.41503
EAN: 9780312198695
ASIN: 0312198698
Publication Date: March 15, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Ex-Lib .... BOOK is clean and tight binding , .Except library marked and shelf wear of cover.***** We process orders promptly (out from California within same business day or 24 hrs), bubble wrapped for protection and inform u with delivery tracking number *****.
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Amazon.com Review
This masterful follow-up to the 1993 Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is an essential purchase for anyone who's serious about fantasy. Those who are serious about horror will also find it an excellent reference. The works of prolific and confusing authors such as Michael Moorcock, as well as authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien who have many posthumously published fragments, are explained with admirable clarity. Especially fascinating are the numerous terms for motifs and themes, constituting what the editors call a map of the many "fuzzy sets" in the universe of fantasy fiction--terms such as "crosshatch," "polder," and "water margin." There are many entries on horror movies and the better-known horror writers (only writers who write no fantasy, such as Richard Laymon, are excluded). You'll also find carefully written definitions of horror, dark fantasy, supernatural fiction, gothic fiction, psychological thrillers, and weird fiction. Locus calls The Encyclopedia of Fantasy "massive and welcome," and writes, "This will be the standard reference for years to come."
Product Description
This huge volume is the first comprehensive encyclopedia of the fantasy field. Not only does it describe the genre authoritatively, but it redefines it, offering an exciting new analysis of this highly diverse and hugely popular sphere of art. With more than 4,000 entries and over one million words, this volume covers every aspect of fantasy-literature, film, television, opera, art, and comics. Written and compiled by a team of editors with unparalleled collective experience in the field, it is an invaluable reference for anyone interested in the art of the fantastic. This paperback edition includes thirty-two pages of update material obtained since the hardcover when to press.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 This is no dry, stuffy old reference book! August 22, 2007
L. Toll (Ottawa, ON)
This is a fantastic reference for anyone who is a lover of fantasy and trivia! The entries are very detailed and although some entries seem a little extraneous (there's one for Latin America), this is an invaluable resource for fantasy readers. St. Martin's Press has certainly fulfilled its promise of producing a volume worth of following The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
 Not what I expected... April 21, 2004
Kyle Kerr (Blakeslee, PA)
25 out of 51 found this review helpful
I'm sure that this would be a wonderful book for anyone interested in the history of the fantasy genre - including movies and television shows, characters and certain authors. However, if you are looking for a book that contains information of the fantasy world itself (ie. mythical beasts, worlds, spells, etc...), like I was, this is definately the wrong book for you. I am a fantasy writer and was looking for information that would help in my writing. This book, now that I have had a good look at it, will sit on my shelf and collect dust until I can find someone to give or sell it to. If you are looking for information on movies, this is a book for you... If not, then don't waste your time and money on this book. It is not worth it.
all I can say is thank heavens I bought this used!!!! June 12, 2003
P. Arroyo (Long Beach, New York United States)
32 out of 88 found this review helpful
There are so many disappointments here I don't know where to start but I'll give it a try just in case you are considering purchasing this paperweight. All I can say is Thank God I bought it used! First, no pictures AT ALL. Second, there is a very annoying problem with the text. When you read the sentence above with the words 'AT ALL' in capital letters you probably emphasised those two words in your head. This is a normal thing to do especially now with e-mail etiquette using words written in capital letters as a form of 'written yelling'. Well, the authors, editors, whomever, chose to capitalize [as opposed to italicize], all the words in each listing that appear elsewhere in the book as a heading. This makes for very dis-jointed and annoying reading. Of course this is a personal opinion of mine, it may not bother you. So here is another one, jargon, or I should say more correctly, made-up terms by the authors supposedly referring to fantasy books. This book is filled with these imaginary terms that no one else has heard of but them. It reads like someone's lame thesis. As if they wrote this overblown dissertion all about fantasy books and tried to make themselves sound so very literary and intellectual. Kind of pathetic folks!
Here is an example, [the capitalization here is theirs], they try to place fantasy books into categories that they have names for such as 'a PLANETARY ROMANCE'. For all you lovers of Anne McCaffrey out there this should offend to no end; and I quote under the entry for dragons [pg 295] the following "In the PERN PLANETARY ROMANCES by Anne MCCAFFREY they are again, [dragons], semi-sapient, capable of an emotional bonding to their selected riders that is quasi-sexual." unquote.
Webster's dictionary defines sapient as possessing or expressing great sagacity. Yeah..... okay, you could have just said semi-intelligent but you would still be wrong as they were not semi or quasi anything. They were fully sentient and fully intelligent but I guess semi-sapient sounds smarter to some people! [even if it is incorrect]. And 'a PLANETARY ROMANCE'?, what the hell is that supposed to be?
Not to mention I would not call these books romances. It makes them sound cheesy which they are certainly not. And while on the subject there was nothing sexual, quasi or otherwise, between the dragons and their riders!!! and if you think there was you are just sick. The dragons share a telapathic bond with their riders and therefore share their lives and their feelings with each other. That is all. If you read sexual into that well then you just have way too much 'sexual' on the brain.
So perspective purchasers of this unworthy tome that is just ONE entry concerning one of the most well known, loved, and highly recommended fantasy series ever written. And oh my do they butcher it. You can take it from there.
The only possible use this book has besides propping open the back door is that it lists authors works in order. So if you are starting to read a series and are unsure of the sequence of the books, they do list that information for you. For that much they can have the one star. If possible I would have not even given this book even that much. Sorry folks but that's just my opinion as someone who has been reading fantasy for over 25 years.
Bloody Amazing March 3, 2003
cecil (nacirema)
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
Fantasy Geeks can't complain any longer--not with the addition of this volume to their already heavily burdened bookshelves: their readerly fetish is now fully indexed, glossed, and cross-referenced. On the face of it, this text represents nothing less than the advent of fantasy literature as a serious field of cultural production; it can not be slighted any more, within reason, for being fluffy, inane, or without serious intellectual interest, for we now have a proper academic book--and a weighty one at that--to substantiate fantasy literature's claim to "high art" instead of kitschy irrelevance. One of the most useful innovations here is that Clute and Grant develop an interpretive lexicon for use within the field of fantasy production. Ever felt the need to explain the "polder"? How about an application of the "seven samurai" model? the "pariah elite"? "Thinning"? An excellent set of critical tools here--but be sure to supplement them with more modern developments of literary & cultural theory. Don't buy this one unless you have lots of time to spend flipping through its comprehensive coverage of the field.
Fascinating Read June 11, 2002
Lawrence Esprit
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is the most exhaustive Fantasy reference available.
All of the contributors are concise, probing and informative. Even if you don't know the author or work being cited, it is as revealing as its arguments are persuasive, which can lead you to the library to learn more.
For anyone who gets lost in the sea of jargon used throughout, the book is a glossary in itself, so don't fret! It includes the definitions of common Fantasy terms such as "Swords and Sorcery", "Fairy", and esoteric terms, like "thinning".
Basically, if it's not in here, it's not worth reading -- or at least according to the authors. They said that they've only excluded authors who they consider relatively unimportant.
A long entry indicates the importance of the author, so of course Tolkien's entry takes up a few pages. Get books by those authors if you want to read the groundbreaking genre-defining stuff.
John Grant's movies reviews are very inciteful and comprehensive. Without giving ratings, he often hints at what made one either good or bad, which can help you decide whether to see it or not.
If you want to get more interested in Fantasy, but can't pick the good books and movies from the bad, this should enlighten you. I find it a great means of escape.
Lawrence
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