[Ads-l] fantastic -- SFF sense (UNCLASSIFIED)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks Jesse and Bill. Below is a reviewer in 1897 describing a "blend
of science and fiction" "two fantastic stories" which are comparable
to "Mr. Wells's most scientific horrors".

Jesse's concise definition of fantastic says: "having the quality of
fantasy", and the definition for fantasy says: "a genre of fiction
which contains elements of magic or the supernatural, frequently set
in a world other than our own".

This implies fantastic literature should have "elements of magic or
the supernatural".

Sadly, the "two fantastic stories" referred to below have a "powerful
realism" and may not contain anything supernatural. (I am not sure
because I have not read the stories.)

Date: March 27, 1897
Newspaper: The Pall Mall Gazette
Newspaper Location: London, Greater London, England
Article: The Bran-Pie of Current Literature: New Novels
Start Page 1, Quote Page 2, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
A blend of science and fiction---a rather incongruous mixture---has
undoubtedly tickled the public taste of late. A compound of these
lines, very skilfully mixed and artistically coloured, is to be found
in a volume of Miss (or is it Dr.?) Arabella Kenealy's short stories
under the title of "Belinda's Beaux." They are very unequal in merit.
Some of the adventures of Lord Sytret are ludicrously far-fetched;
while under the heading of "Probabilities" are two fantastic stories
of such powerful realism and such hideous possibility that they
challenge comparison with Mr. Wells's most scientific horrors.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 6:45 PM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 04:23:30PM -0400, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
> > Bill Mullins wrote:
> > > The OED SF project has an entry for "fantastic" (adj) in the SF/F sense, earliest cite 1934
> > >
> > > _Science Fiction Digest_ Feb 1933 p 18 col 2
> > > "We are considering enlarging the field of our service, thereby covering the so-called 'fantastic' magazines."
> > > http://www.fanac.org/fanzines/SF_Digest_2/SF_Digest_0106-18.jpeg
> >
> > Bill: What is the desired definition of "fantastic" in the SFF domain?
> > Currently, attempting to access webpages on jessesword.com generates
> > errors (for me).
>
> Sorry about that. I've fixed the server problem.
>
> _fantastic_ adj. is at https://www.jessesword.com/sf/view/1055
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org