Fantastic Odysseys

Although the odyssey has long been recognized as a crucial characteristic of the epic, scant attention has been paid to it as a telling device within other forms of the fantastic. Fantastic Odysseys supports the long-held awareness of the odyssey metaphor as an integral function within literary discourse, one that demonstrates a continuum of essential change in human cultural experience. By shifting the focus of that awareness from the epic narrative to a range of other fantastic narratives, this collection challenges critical and literary boundaries while it expands the meaning and value of the odyssey metaphor through the examination of a variety of works.

Divided into four sections, the essays cover the odyssey as a journey toward knowledge, identity, transformation, and destiny. Beginning and ending with a critical nod toward 2001: A Space Odyssey, these sections map the narrative trails left by odysseys imagined across time and space, mode and genre: from early French theatre to postmodern film, from Jewish short-story fantasies to Latin American narrative, from quest novels to futuristic crime thrillers, from German Romanticism to Spanish satire. Among the authors studied are Borges, Milás, Kafka, Malamud, Hoffmann, Ende, Straub, King, McKillip, Tiptree, Robinson, and Clark; among the films are Them!, The Rapture, American Psycho, and Fight Club. This unique collection increases our understanding of the odyssey as it is represented in various forms and genres.

MARY PHARR is Professor of English at Florida Southern College. There she teaches classes ranging from Romanticism to film. She has served as a member of the Speakers Bureau for the Florida Humanities Council and as an officer in the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. The author of both journal articles and book chapters in the field of fantastic fiction and film, she has also co-edited the anthology The Blood Is the Life: Vampires in Literature (1999).