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Review Archive
BOOKS
The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasyedited by David Pringle
Overlook Press; Woodstock, NY;
256 pgs; Hardcover; $29.95
Editor David Pringle opens his richly illustrated encyclopedia with the statement "Fantasy is the fiction of the heart's desire." Most fans of Fantasy would agree. We long for a wondrous realm of times long past when things (we believe) were simpler, stranger, and magical. Our hearts desire heros and heroines capable of wielding glowing arcane etched swords or crystal ball-stopped staves, just as we desire danger in the form of dragons or love in the form of beautiful maidens with mahogany-colored hair and green eyes. Since the dawn of mankind artists and storytellers have lovingly created stories and images to fulfill our hearts' deepest wishes. David Pringle has now given us 256 colorful pages recalling the finest in Fantasy's long history.
The entries in this book are not easily cross-referenced and catalogued as in a standard encyclopedia and they do not delve deeply into the core of each subject, but I don't believe this was its purpose even though its title, Ultimate Encyclopedia, may make that demand of it. This text is more inclined to whet your appetite for all things fantastic, skimming across the surface, never spending too much time on any one subject, eschewing the dry and scholarly in favor of Fantasy's fun side. (How could they have done anything else and still have managed to find space for they myriad wonderful illustrations of old and new films, books, and your favorite authors?)
Terry Prachett's splendid Foreword invites the readers to step inside Thunderstorm Cave, where he gives us the short version of how homo sapiens became homo narrans a.k.a. the "Storytelling Man." Pringle then launches the book back in time, giving an overview of the history of Fantasy, chronicling the artform down from myth and legends and epics through present-day styles and forms. Granted, the history of Fantasy could fill volumes, but much like the rest of the text, this introduction offers a concise and fast-paced rundown of storytelling since the days man first decided to Make Things Up And Tell Them To Other People (while hoping for some form of payment whether it be a piece of meat or a royalty check).
The Encyclopedia covers all of the various categories and subcategories growing out of the genre we love. The chapter devoted to the various types and themes runs the gamut from Fairy Tales to Arthuriana, from Lost-Race to Arabian Nights Tales. Following are two sections covering Fantastic film and television. Flip through these pages and you'll be teleported to 1924 with Douglas Fairbanks's The Thief of Baghdad and then back to the yesterday of today as Lucy Lawless flexes her warrior charms as Xena: Warrior Princess. Both the Fantasy character chapter and the author biographies sections give an A-Z rundown of who's who within Fantasy fiction as well as within the Fantasy community. The gaming section brings back memories of the early '70s with Gary Gygax's Dungeon's & Dragons, but also has detailed entries regarding miniature, card, and computer gaming.
Finally we come to Fantasy Magazines. This brief but interesting four-page section traverses the brilliant though often rocky road of magazines fiction publishing of the past hundred years. If you check out of page 247, you'll discover that a certain magazine (we won't say which one but, ahem, you're holding it right now) is being touted as "the current U.S. leader among magazines publishing fantasy fiction." But don't worry—we'd recommend that you track down this volume even without those words of praise.
(Originally published in Realms of Fantasy magazine, October 1999.)
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