'A sea in which other genres swim': hybridity, the fable and contemporary fantasy

Abstract

Terry Pratchett offers the opinion that: ‘Fantasy is a kind of a plasma in which other things can be carried. It is almost a sea in which other genres swim.’ He indicates fantasy’s ability to hybridise with other genres. Fantasy’s hybrid nature is evident in the many subgenres that have developed that combine, for example, detective fiction with fantasy resulting in urban fantasy. However, the integration of the fable within fantasy has yet to be considered.
The Oxford Companion to English Literature states that the fable often carries ‘[w]ith it associations of the marvellous or the mythical, frequently employing animals or inanimate objects as characters.’ The ‘mythical and marvellous’ qualities of fable recognise their potential to hybridise with fantasy literature. I propose that hybridity between the two genres is evident in these qualities, and also in the moral, didactic, and potentially subversive themes contained within both fable and fantasy literature. The fantasies that are Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman comics (1989-96), Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels (1983-2015), and Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series (2000-date), provide evidence and examples of the moral, didactic, and potentially subversive themes of fables that have developed to address a twenty-first century readership, adapting to examine common social concerns and issues within Western culture.

Date of Award	17 Jun 2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Andrew Hiscock (Supervisor) & Sue Niebrzydowski (Supervisor)