The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature

The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, edited by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn, gathers critics and practicing authors to examine fantasy as a genre born of the Enlightenment — the recognition that wonder can be found in imagining the impossible. The collection is organized in three parts: Histories, tracing fantasy's development from Dryden and Dunsany through Gothic and horror fiction, children's fantasy, and Tolkien and Lewis; Ways of Reading, introducing critical frameworks including structuralist, psychoanalytic, and political approaches; and Clusters, surveying subgenres from magical realism and quest fantasy to urban fantasy and writers of color.

James and Mendlesohn previously co-edited The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, which won a Hugo Award in 2005, and bring the same critical rigor to fantasy's history and reach — from Gothic ghost stories to Harry Potter.