The Critics, The Monsters, And The Fantasists By Ursula K. Leguin

554 Words3 Pages
Within her essay, “The critics, the monsters, and the fantasists”, Ursula K. LeGuin argues that the snobbery surrounding fantasy literature has to led to critics being unfamiliar with many of the works involved in the genre, and because of that, the Harry Potter novels had an unusually strong reception, given that the material in the novels was far from unique. LeGuin blames modernists for critic's and reviewer's unfamiliarity with novels that don't belong to the genres encompassed by realism, and the prejudice against them. LeGuin feels that Edmund Wilson – who is known for his outspoken opinions in regards to J.R.R. Tolkien's novels, and quoted as saying that The Lord of the Rings is “a children’s book which has somehow got out of hand,