Aspects of the Novel · Chapter
VI: Fantasy explained
Forster defines fantasy as a literary mode that demands an 'extra payment' from the reader—an additional adjustment beyond the usual suspension of disbelief required by realistic fiction.
What happens
Forster defines fantasy as a literary mode that demands an 'extra payment' from the reader—an additional adjustment beyond the usual suspension of disbelief required by realistic fiction. He distinguishes fantasy from prophecy by their mythologies: fantasy invokes small, earthly gods (fauns, dryads, puns) while prophecy transcends to greater deities. Using examples like Tristram Shandy, Ulysses, and Flecker's Magic, Forster explores how fantasy creates its own stage through mythology, and he warns that criticism often loses touch with its subject, as the 'bird' of theory and the 'shadow' of the novel drift apart.
Themes in this chapter
Fantasy and Prophecy
Forster distinguishes fantasy from prophecy by their mythologies and the demands they place on the reader, with fantasy requiring an 'extra payment' of adjustment.
Criticism and Pseudo-Scholarship
Forster reflects on the difficulty of criticism, noting how a lecture series can drift from its subject, like a bird and its shadow.
Characters to notice
- James Joyce
Discussed as a fantasist; his Ulysses is analyzed as a mythological framework for a modern journey, though Forster finds its indignation ultimately unsuccessful.
- Tristram Shandy
Cited as a key example of fantasy; Forster notes its muddle as closer to truth than Joyce's simplifications.
- Moby Dick
Mentioned alongside Tristram Shandy as an essential work on the fantastic-prophetical axis.
- Mr. Asquith
Used as an example of a reader who could not accept the fantastic element in Lady Into Fox, reflecting the 'extra payment' demand.
- Stephen Dedalus
Described as a character in Ulysses who tries to explore life through the intellect, and is recognized by Bloom as a spiritual son.
Key passages
“What does fantasy ask of us? It asks us to pay something extra. It compels us to an adjustment that is different to an adjustment required by a work of art, to an additional adjustment.”
Fantasy demands an extra effort from the reader beyond what realistic fiction requires.
Forster's core definition of fantasy's unique demand on the reader.
“The bird is all right—it climbs, it is consistent and eminent. The shadow is all right—it has flickered across roads and gardens. But the two things resemble one another less and less, they do not touch as they did when the bird rested its toes on the ground.”
Theory and its subject start together but gradually diverge, losing connection.
Metaphor for the gap between critical analysis and the actual experience of reading novels.
“The power of fantasy penetrates”
Fantasy's influence reaches deeply into the narrative.
Fragment suggesting the pervasive effect of fantasy in literature.