Incomplete Glossary: Non-Mimetic Genres

The semester’s five, five-hundred-word Model-Text-Modeled, Genre-Archetype-Buttressed, Non-Mimetic Fiction

Compositions will—guided by both genre-specific model fictions and critical sources chosen by the student-author—
fall under non-mimetic genre categories that may include any of the following overlapping designations:

Fantasy/Fairy Stories—or fictions concerned with events, places and persons of a magical, i.e. impossible,
character, also “a fairy legend; with developed senses, (b) an unreal or incredible story” and (c) stories about the
“adventures of persons in the Perilous Realm [i.e. world(s) of a magical character] or upon its shadowy marches”
(OED/Tolkien)—and its subgenres that may include (but are not limited to):

Sword and Sorcery/Heroic Fantasy or “genre of fiction characterized by heroic adventures and elements of”
supernatural goings-on and “a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy literature featuring the adventures of a hero in a
(more or less) imaginary world” (OED).
Example of a model-text fiction from this genre: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1937).
Example of a critical source which attempts to analyze this genre: Edward James’s The Cambridge
Companion to Fantasy Literature (James/Mendlesohn, 2012) chapter titled “Tolkien, Lewis and the
explosion of genre fantasy”.
Incomplete Glossary: Non-Mimetic Genres
Scientific fantasy or «a generic categorization of science fiction as a branch of fantasy», o «a genre in
which devices of fantasy are employed in a ‘science fictional’ context» (Gary K. Wolfe, Critical Terms For
Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Glossary and Guide to Scholarship, 1986, p. 107)
Example of a model-text fiction from this genre: China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station (2000)
Example of a critical source which attempts to analyze this genre: Gregory Frost’s The Cambridge
Companion to Fantasy Literature (James/Mendlesohn, 2012) chapter titled “Reading the
slipstream”.

Urban Fantasy or fictions whose magical (i.e. impossible) events, places and persons are set in modern,
mundane and otherwise un-magical city settings.
Example of a model-text fiction from this genre: Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (1996)
Example of a critical source which attempts to analyze this genre: Alexander C. Irvine’s The
Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature (James/Mendlesohn, 2012) chapter titled “Urban
fantasy”.
Incomplete Glossary: Non-Mimetic Genres
Mythic Fantasy or fictions whose magical (i.e. impossible) events, places and persons are taken from
extradiegetic mythologies.
Example of a model-text fiction from this genre: Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief (2005)
Example of a critical source which attempts to analyze this genre: Scholar Graham Sleight’s The
Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature (James/Mendlesohn, 2012) chapter titled “Fantasies
of history and religion”

Humanized Animal Fantasy or tales in which impossible, that is “magical” and or faerie-related tales
feature “humanized non-humans” or, animals which, in the world of the text, are, by the author, endowed
with human-like abilities (e.g. speech) and social structures.
Example of a model-text fiction from this genre: C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe (1950)
Example of a critical source which attempts to analyze this genre: Joan Gordon’s The Routledge
Companion to Science Fiction (Bould/Buter/Roberts/Vint 2009) chapter “Animal studies”
Incomplete Glossary: Non-Mimetic Genres
Comic fantasy or tales in which impossible, that is “magical” and or faerie-affiliated persons, places and
things are employ in the narrative to humorous ends.
Example of a model-text fiction from this genre: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series
Example of a critical source which attempts to analyze this genre: D Luthi’s “Toying with fantasy:
the postmodern playground of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels” 2014

Detective Fantasy or fictions in which crimes are solved (often by an investigator or investigators) in a
diegetic setting which includes impossible, i.e. magical, faerie-affiliated and or supernatural elements
Example of a model-text fiction from this genre: Terry Pratchett’s Night Watch (2002)
Example of a critical source which attempts to analyze this genre: Stefan Ekman’s “Crime Stories
and Urban Fantasy” (2017)
Incomplete Glossary: Non-Mimetic Genres
Military Fantasy or fictions in which the impossible, i.e. magical, faerie-affiliated and or supernatural
elements are employed in relation to battle-filled tales detailing the competition of rival factions.
Example of a model-text fiction from this genre: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King
Example of a critical source which attempts to analyze this genre: Tara E. Wolford “Maidens or
Warriors: Women’s Role in Current Young Adult Fantasy Literature” (2019)

Dark fantasy or tales of fantastical terror in which impossible, i.e. magical, faerie-affiliated and or
supernatural elements are employed in conjunction with horror archetypes.
Example of a model-text fiction from this genre: H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu” (1928)
Example of a critical source which attempts to analyze this genre: Tory Ellen Fields “Inquiries into
horror and fantasy through the works of Stephen King” (2015)