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This review of Four Christian Fantasists was published on the website of Chrismon (an Evangelic magazine in German).
The original German text can be read on the Chrismon webiste here and is reproduced on this website here.
The following translation is provided by the Walking Tree Publishers.
RICHARD STURCH
Four Christian Fantasists
A Study of the Fantastic Writings of George MacDonald, Charles Williams, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
Walking Tree Publishers 2001, English, 132 Pages,
DEM 33,00
EUR 16,90
It is not for escapism alone that people reach out to fantasy literature. This, at least, is the opinion of many authors of the genre. But what else could it be that made this class of literature one of the fastest growing of the last 50 years? One line of explanation, represented especially by the creator of The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R.Tolkien, directs us to Christian roots. For example, the concept that God created Man in his image empowers Man to subcreate. Experiencing and creating the "fantastic", teaches him about aspects of the real world that would not be accessible to him in strictly real-life situations. This connection between Christian views and popular Fantasy is largely a phenomenon of the English speaking world. Critics in this country have largely ignored or frowned upon the idea. In Britain and the USA however, George MacDonald ("At the Back of the North Wind"), C.S. Lewis ("Narnia") and J.R.R. Tolkien ("The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings") have been counted among the classics for many years, and not only on the children's shelves. If you want to learn more about this unusual connection, Richard Sturch's book is right for you. The author himself, by the way, is a minister of the Anglican Church and former university lecturer on Philosophy, which is easy to see judging by the hundereds of footnotes.
AXEL REIMANN
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