E-Book Overview
As the first international anthology to cover the entire scope of fantastic narrative, Fantastic Worlds presents over fifty tales, myths, and stories, ranging from Genesis to Ovid, Hans Christian Andersen to J.R.R. Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe to James Thurber, and Franz Kafka to Italo Calvino. Including tales of fairies and elves, ghost stories, high fantasy, and stories of social criticism and the conflict between science and religion, this volume presents a diverse selection of writings that all share the same capacity to liberate the human spirit through the wild mental acrobatics of fantasy.
E-Book Content
FANTASTIC WORLDS
This page intentionally left blank
Fantastic Worlds Myths, Tales, and Stones
Edited and with Commentaries by
ERIcS. RABKIN
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford
New York
Toronto
Melbourne
Oxford University Press Oxford London Glasgow New York Toronto Melbourne Wellington Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Kuala Lumpur Singapore Jakarta Hong Kong Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi
Tokyo
Copyright © 1979 by Oxford University Press, Inc. First published by Oxford University Press, New York, 1979 First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1979
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Fantastic worlds. Bibliography: p. 1. Fantastic literature. I. Rabkin, Eric S. PN6o71.F25F34 8o8.83'876 78-11482 ISBN 0-19-502542-3 ISBN 0-19-502541-5 pbk. Printed in the United States of America printing, last digit: 20 19 18 17 Since this page cannot legibly accommodate all of the copyright notices, the pages following constitute an extension of the copyright page.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHINUA ACHEBE: "Why Tortoise's Shell Is Not Smooth" from Things Fall Apart. Reprinted by permission of William Heinemann Ltd., London. ALEKSANDR AFANAS'EV, ED. : "The Magic Swan Geese" from Russian Fairy Tales, trans. Norbert Guterman. Copyright 1945 by Pantheon Books, Inc.; renewed 1973 by Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a Division of Random House, Inc., and Sheldon Press, London. HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN: "The Tinderbox" from The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories, trans. Erik Christian Haugaard, foreword by Virginia Haviland. Copyright © 1974 by Erik Christian Haugaard. Reprinted by permission of Doubleday & Co., Inc., and Victor Gollancz Ltd., London. DONALD BARTHELME: "The Piano Player" from Come Back, Dr. Caligari. Copyright © 1963 by Donald Barthelme; originally appeared in The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown & Co. and International Creative Management. PETER BICHSEL: "There Is No Such Place as America" from There Is No Such Place as America, trans. Michael Hamburger. Copyright © 1969 by Hermann Luchterhand Verlag GmbH, Neuwied und Berlin; translation copyright © 1970 by Michael Hamburger; originally published in German under the title Kindergeschichten by Luchterhand/ Edition Otto F. Walter; first published in England by Calder and Boyars Ltd., London. Reprinted by permission of Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence & Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd. JORGE Luis BORGES: "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" from Labyrinths, trans. James E. Irby. Copyright © 1962 by New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Directions, New York, and Laurence Pollinger Ltd., London. RICHARD BRAUTIGAN: "Homage to the San Francisco YMCA" from Revenge of the Lawn. Copyright © 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971 by Richard Brautigan. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, a Division of Gulf & Western Corp., and Jonathan Cape Ltd., London. ITALO CALVINO: "All At One Point" from Cosmicomics. Copyright © 1965 by Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Torino; English translation © 1968 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., and Jonathan Cape Ltd.; or