Strictly Fantasy

Strictly Fantasy PDF Author: Gerald Nachtwey
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476643474
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Role-playing games seemed to appear of nowhere in the early 1970s and have been a quiet but steady presence in American culture ever since. This new look at the hobby searches for the historical origins of role-playing games deep in the imaginative worlds of Western culture. It looks at the earliest fantasy stories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, at the fans--both readers and writers--who wanted to bring them to life, at the Midwestern landscape and the middle-class households that were the hobby's birthplace, and at the struggle to find meaning and identity amidst cultural conflicts that drove many people into these communities of play. This book also addresses race, religion, gender, fandom, and the place these games have within American capitalism. All the paths of this journey are connected by the very quality that has made fantasy role-playing so powerful: it binds the limitless imagination into a "strict" framework of rules. Far from being an accidental offshoot of marginalized fan communities, role-playing games' ability to hold contradictions in dynamic, creative tension made them a necessary and central product of the twentieth century.

Strictly Fantasy

Strictly Fantasy PDF Author: Gerald Nachtwey
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476643474
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Get Book Here

Book Description
Role-playing games seemed to appear of nowhere in the early 1970s and have been a quiet but steady presence in American culture ever since. This new look at the hobby searches for the historical origins of role-playing games deep in the imaginative worlds of Western culture. It looks at the earliest fantasy stories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, at the fans--both readers and writers--who wanted to bring them to life, at the Midwestern landscape and the middle-class households that were the hobby's birthplace, and at the struggle to find meaning and identity amidst cultural conflicts that drove many people into these communities of play. This book also addresses race, religion, gender, fandom, and the place these games have within American capitalism. All the paths of this journey are connected by the very quality that has made fantasy role-playing so powerful: it binds the limitless imagination into a "strict" framework of rules. Far from being an accidental offshoot of marginalized fan communities, role-playing games' ability to hold contradictions in dynamic, creative tension made them a necessary and central product of the twentieth century.

A Short History of Fantasy

A Short History of Fantasy PDF Author: Farah Mendlesohn
Publisher: Libri Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1907471642
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Some of the earliest books ever written, including The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey, deal with monsters, marvels, extraordinary voyages, and magic, and this genre, known as fantasy, remained an essential part of European literature through the rise of the modern realist novel. Tracing the history of fantasy from the earliest years through to the origins of modern fantasy in the 20th century, this account discusses contributions decade by decade--from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and Lewis's Narnia books in the 1950s to J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. It also discusses and explains fantasy's continuing and growing popularity.

Children's Fantasy Literature

Children's Fantasy Literature PDF Author: Michael Levy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107018145
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
A comprehensive study of children's fantasy literature across the English-speaking world, from the sixteenth century to the present.

Fantasy Fiction

Fantasy Fiction PDF Author: Frances Sinclair
Publisher: School Library Association
ISBN: 1903446465
Category : Children's literature, English
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Book Description
Handbook of fantasy fiction for teachers, librarians, parents and guardians and children themselves in which to find many titles of fantasy fiction that they like, or may be tempted, to read. Includes groups such as classic fantasy, comic fantasy, Arthurian, dark fantasy, animals and dragons.

Fantasy Media in the Classroom

Fantasy Media in the Classroom PDF Author: Emily Dial-Driver
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786489413
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
A common misconception is that professors who use popular culture and fantasy in the classroom have abandoned the classics, yet in a variety of contexts--high school, college freshman composition, senior seminars, literature, computer science, philosophy and politics--fantasy materials can expand and enrich an established curriculum. The new essays in this book combine analyses of popular television shows including Buffy the Vampire Slayer; such films as The Matrix, The Dark Knight and Twilight; Watchmen and other graphic novels; and video games with explanations of how best to use them in the classroom. With experience-based anecdotes and suggestions for curricula, this collection provides a valuable pedagogy of pop culture.

The World of Final Fantasy VII

The World of Final Fantasy VII PDF Author: Jason C. Cash
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476647259
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
Final Fantasy VII altered the course of video game history when it was released in 1997 on Sony's PlayStation system. It converted the Japanese role-playing game into an international gaming standard with enhanced gameplay, spectacular cutscenes and a vast narrative involving an iconic cast. In the decades after its release, the Final Fantasy VII franchise has grown to encompass a number of video game sequels, prequels, a feature-length film, a novel and a multi-volume remake series. This volume, the first edited collection of essays devoted only to the world of Final Fantasy VII, blends scholarly rigor with fan passion in order to identify the elements that keep Final Fantasy VII current and exciting for players. Some essays specifically address the game's perennially relevant themes and scenarios, ranging from environmental consciousness to economic inequity and posthumanism. Others examine the mechanisms used to immerse the player or to improve the narrative. Finally, there are several essays devoted specifically to the game's legacy, from its influence on later games to its characters' many crossovers and cameos.

The Victorian Era in Twenty-First Century Children’s and Adolescent Literature and Culture

The Victorian Era in Twenty-First Century Children’s and Adolescent Literature and Culture PDF Author: Sonya Sawyer Fritz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351376276
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
Victorian literature for audiences of all ages provides a broad foundation upon which to explore complex and evolving ideas about young people. In turn, this collection argues, contemporary works for young people that draw on Victorian literature and culture ultimately reflect our own disruptions and upheavals, particularly as they relate to child and adolescent readers and our experiences of them. The essays therein suggest that we struggle now, as the Victorians did then, to assert a cohesive understanding of young readers, and that this lack of cohesion is a result of or a parallel to the disruptions taking place on a larger (even global) scale.

Baseball Books

Baseball Books PDF Author: Mike Shannon
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476610924
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
It is widely, and wrongly, assumed that books are never so valuable as when they lie unopened before us, waiting to be read. Good books bear multiple readings, and not merely because our memories fail us; the desire to repeat a good reading experience can be its own powerful motivation. And for bibliophiles, books can also be works of art, physical objects with an aesthetic value all their own. This guide for the book-loving baseball fan is written by one of the most knowledgeable collectors in the country, author and editor Mike Shannon. Beginning with a history of baseball books and collecting, it also identifies the most sought-after titles and explains how to find them, what to pay, and how to maintain their condition.

The Origin of Consciousness

The Origin of Consciousness PDF Author: Graham Little
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 099510848X
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description


Nature & Science on the Pacific Coast

Nature & Science on the Pacific Coast PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 566

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Book Description