1. EDU31ACL – Australian Children’s Literature FANTASY STORIES © La Trobe University, David Beagley 2005 Lecture 2 Australian Fantasy Stories

2. The Lure of the Other Fantasy stories are usually asking ‘What If … ?’ Creative questions such as: … animals could talk? … children could fly? … toys come alive? … you could travel across the galaxy? … you could become invisible? … magic was a human skill? … dragons (trolls, elves, orcs, psammeads) were? … and then what?

3. Types of Other Wish fulfilment – “lonely child” Time change – time slip/swap, past/future Heroic – prove self, go beyond limits Animal - anthropomorphic Parallel worlds Utopia (perfect world), Dystopia, Apocalyptic Toys and dolls Size change Beyond normal abilities – magic, psychic, super Science fiction Historical worlds Traditional myth and legend

4. Origins Much modern fantasy is based on fantasy works of previous centuries: Thomas Malory: L’Morte d’Arthur (1485) Jonathon Swift: Gullivers Travels (1723) Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) Jules Verne: 20 thousand leagues under the sea (1875) H.G Wells: The Time Machine (1895) And of the early 20 th century James Barrie: Peter Pan (1902-11) C.S. Lewis: The books of Narnia (1950-56) JRR Tolkien: The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (1954-56)

5. Australian Fantasy What types of Other? What is Australian in the Secondary world? Snugglepot and CuddlepiePlaying Beatie Bow The Wirrun TrilogyMary Poppins The GatheringTomorrow when the war began Sabriel, Lirael, AbhorsenThe Muddle Headed Wombat Mister MondayDragonkeeper RunestonesShædow master