Resumen
An anthology of fantasy stories selected by the eminent Medievalist and Fantasy scholar Tom Shippey, The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories gathers together thirty-one tales brimming over with imagination. This rich and intriguing collection of fantasy stories features classic figures--the Devil, trolls and werewolves, sorcerers and dragons--that have long been a part of the human psyche. The authors of these marvelous tales draw upon a deep well of images, characters, and landscapes with great imagination and subtlety. Featuring writers as diverse as John Buchan and Mervyn Peake, Angela Carter and Terry Pratchett, this is an anthology for the newcomer and dedicated fan alike.
Shippey has done an admirable job of collecting entertaining, exotic and readable tales that fairly represent the varied trends in fantasy over the last century, bringing back some long out-of-print stories. The book has a strong comic slant, beginning with Richard Garnetts The Demon Pope (ca. 1888), a truly amusing take on the time-honored theme of soul selling, and ending with Terry Pratchetts Troll Bridge, in which Cohen the Barbarian bemoans the fading away of magic (and his own advancing decrepitude) but refuses to give up the hero biz. Strange tales by Lord Dunsany and H. P. Lovecraft share space with sword and sorcery offerings from Robert Howard and Catherine L. Moore. Though the anthology contains Peter Beagles wonderful Lila the Werewolf and Theodore Sturgeons classic The Silken-Swift, there are several puzzling absences--notably J.R.R. Tolkien, Patricia McKillip and Ursula Le Guin. But taken in toto this collection offers insights into the breadth of the field, its historical development and its many beauties.
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