| Summary: | This article explores the popularity of the fantasy genre in the recent decades. In
so doing, it seeks to provide a definition of the genre, claiming that fantasy literature is
fiction that offers the reader a world estranged from their own, separated by nova that are
supernatural or otherwise consistent with the marvelous, and which has as its dominant
tone a sense of wonder. It does this through a discussion of previous definitions of fantasy,
the fantastic, science fiction and supernatural horror. Furthermore, through a consideration
of texts by Tolkien, and an exploration of contemporary novels (Kazuo Ishiguro’s The
Buried Giant; Terry Brooks The Sword of Shannara trilogy) and other franchises (Star
Wars), it demonstrates how the generic boundaries should be read outside of the traditional
limitations, and how these texts, coupled with contemporary technology, offer a freer range
to imagination and make fantasy a potent critical force
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