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Choice And Success: The Evolution Of A Modern Hero, Laurence W. Ranstead

Dissertations and Theses

The phenomenon of modern fantasy is the result of a tradition that originated with romance. It is a tradition that has experienced continual redefinement and utilization over the years. This is evidenced by the rediscovery of certain characteristics of the Medieval Romance and the development of others by the Romantics, William Blake, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. These characteristics are identifiable in the works of such later writers as Charles Dickens, William Morris, H.G. Wells, G.B. Shaw, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein. The concern of these succeeding authors is the same as that of the Romantics, i.e., the nature …