[Auto-generated transcript. Edits may have been applied for clarity.] So I'm Doctor Katie, haltingly, and I am currently a British Academy Postdoctoral fellow at the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh.
I just started there, so previously I was teaching in the literature department at Edinburgh University,
uncovering that during that time I was covering a module on the making of modern fantasy, hence why I've ended up here today.
The more that I ask or delve into that question of is there a fantasy genre?
It gets harder and harder to define, really, but I do find that having genres as a starting point is really useful.
You know, you don't want them to box off things or be limiting, but it can be useful to think about a genre of fantasy and how that can shape it.
So for me, fantasy generally, it involves some sort of imaginative world.
There'll be some hint of maybe magic or something, maybe not quite explained, but I'm quite loose with that term.
So. Today.
Are we talking about William Morris and George McDonald, which, uh,
I do think they were quite influential in those early days of fantasy before it was called fantasy in the way we understand it.
Um, but and of course, as always, talking.
But I do also think Ursula Gwyn needs more mention, um, at times, uh, that the Earthsea trilogy that is no longer trilogy.
Absolutely important to read, I think.
So I just recently read The Pride of the Orange Tree in preparation for coming along to summer school, which I very much enjoyed.
Um, another author that I think doesn't get enough time at the moment is Rachel Hartman.
So she her first book in this kind of blue series was Serafina.
Um, she I've just found out she has a new book coming out as part of that series is very exciting this year.
But, uh, I'd say if you like The Priory of the Orange Tree, then you probably like Rachel Holman's books,
too, because she, again is blending a world with dragons, and then also with kind of a,
um, a religion system that has Catholic ish links in terms of concepts of saints,
but then also questioning that religious situation and the myths that are used and told for those stories.
It's really interesting looking at a lot of the subgenres with fantasy.
Um, I do think, uh, cosy fantasy actually has an interesting future.
It's been really fun to see how independent authors are kind of showing the publishing industry that
people might just be very happy reading a mostly happy little book with a little bit of peril,
but not too much peril. Um, and finding that cosiness there.
Um, but also sometimes dealing with quite difficult concepts of inclusion.
So for example, there's the House by the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Clune,
which in some ways is cosy fantasy, but also dealing with difficult questions about inclusion.
And there's also legends and lattes, um, which is a really fun one about an orc that just wants to retire and open a coffee shop, I mean, delightful.
The other thing I say with the future fantasy, or do you think it's really interesting to see diversity coming in there?
So, I mean, just reading the part of the Orange Tree and the different, um, cultural traditions that she draws on.
Um, but yeah. So I think that's a really exciting future. Partly it comes from some of the texts I was teaching this year.
Um, I'm today I'm using William Morris, and George McDonald is quite useful bridging examples.
So the 19th century is often seen as kind of the early birth of fantasy literature.
Um, so and then at that 19th century period, there was lots of different traditions kind of coming together.
It's a mix of genres is happening, a mix of disciplines and interests.
William Morris was very much a polymath interested in anything, to be honest.
He gets hands on. Um, and in some ways I relate to that in my own research.
I have jumped from Old Norse literature to contemporary novels with music to looking at Quaker silence and 20th century novels.
And so today's talk, I'm bringing in my Old Norse interest in terms of, um, saying Morris's use of almost texts to create his own fantasy,
but I'm also bringing in more kind of newer work I'm doing in the world of religion and literature to talk about George MacDonald,
who for him, fantasy literature was completely tied to, um, the imagination.
But then that in turn led you to understanding God or, um, in a more kind of complex way.
So I think there's a really interesting elements there to think about religion and fantasy literature.
So it's interesting because you do get a secular approach to religion and a lot of fantasy.
Um, if we think about Philip Pullman's Dark Materials, he's quite critical of the church as an institution.
And there's often a theme of kind of a myth busting situation.
Um, you even get that in part of The Orange Tree by Shannon.
Um, where the sense of you have a society's religion, which is based on some sort of myth,
but then you realise the truth of the myth doesn't quite align to this religious belief.
So you do get that secular side, which is very interesting.
And it's good in terms of always we we should be questioning where these stories are coming from.
Um, but there's also a contrasting side where you do if we think about the works of MacDonald and then C.S. Lewis and,
um, Tolkien as well, for them, they're all religious authors.
So for them,
the fantasy literature and writing it and imagining these worlds was a way to try and understand more deeply their own faith and religion.
So that's kind of another strand to it. So you can use these religion as a cultural tradition to then understand worldbuilding and fantasy literature,
but you can also use the imaginative side of fantasy literature to then explore really,
actually quite complex concepts about God, about good and evil, and how you defeat evil from a religious or Christian perspective, for example.
Um, C.S. Lewis even wrote, um, he's more known for lion, the witch and the wardrobe,
but the he did write a space trilogy, which is more fantasy often.
Um, so, for example, in parallel, he's reimagining the Garden of Eden.
So the Adam and Eve before the fall for a second time and trying to figure out how
could it be talked about and understood and how could it work out in a different way?
So I think there's lots of different strands we could look at.