The Fantastic Imagination

From Tolkien Gateway
The Fantastic Imagination: An Anthology of High Fantasy
The Fantastic Imagination.png
EditorRobert H. Boyer, Kenneth J. Zahorski
PublisherNew York: Avon Books
Released1977
FormatMass-market paperback
Pages325
ISBN0-380-00956-0

The Fantastic Imagination: An Anthology of High Fantasy is a collection of stories in the fantastic genre. The anthology reprints J.R.R. Tolkien's chapter "Riddles in the Dark" from The Hobbit.

Contents[edit | edit source]

  • Preface
  • Introduction (by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski)
  1. Johann Ludwig Tieck: "The Elves"
  2. Lord Dunsany: "The Sword of Welleran"
  3. George MacDonald: "The Light Princess"
  4. John Buchan: "The Grove of Ashtaroth"
  5. J.B. Cabell: "The Music From Behind the Moon"
  6. Frank R. Stockton: "The Accomodating Circumstance"
  7. H.E. Bates: "The Peach Tree"
  8. Alexander Grin: "The Loquacious Goblin"
  9. J.R.R. Tolkien: "Riddles in the Dark"
  10. C.S. Lewis: "The Magician's Book"
  11. C.S. Lewis: "The Dufflepuds Made Happy"
  12. Mark van Doren: "The Tall One"
  13. Lloyd Alexander: "The Foundling"
  14. Peter S. Beagle: "Come Lady Death"
  15. Ursula Le Guin: "The Rule of Names"
  16. Sylvia Townsend Warner: "Beliard"

From the back[edit | edit source]

From another world beyond our own where epic quests and ritual evil challenge the gods, seduce the spirit ... where elfin kings and witchwomen, unicorns and Hobbits, sorcerers and swordsmen vaunt and court and do battle and where Lady Death appears in Cinderella splendor ...

The Fantastic Imagination is a brilliant collection of the best in fantasy literature, chosen from the most popular works of the past 150 years. Combining the heroic, the courtly, the magical, and the surreal, Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski explore the distant colonies of the mind and the spirit ... from behind the moon to the sacred grove of Ashtaroth to the fabled regions of Middle Earth.