PHANTASMION, A Fairy Tale. By Sara Coleridge (18021852)
Introductory preface by Lord John Coleridge (18201894)
With a glossary added for archaic terms
First published in 1837. This book is in the public domain worldwide, because the creators died more than 100 years ago, and it was published before 1923.
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Sara Coleridge was an English author, poet, and translator. She was the third child and only daughter of noted poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (author of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner).
Phantasmion, Sara Coleridges longest original work and her only work of fiction, is described in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1999) as the first fairytale novel written in English. Matthew David Surridge, in his article Worlds Within Worlds, argues that it is the very first fantasy novel set entirely in an alternate world. Some historians of the fantasy genre believe Phantasmion may have influenced the work of George MacDonald.
[Adapted from Wikipedia.]
Phantasmion presents no heavy-handed parables or moral teachings. The characters, though not deeply realized, still, are not one-dimensional: heroes and heroines have flaws and weaknesses; villains sometimes exhibit kindness and generosity. It is, simply, a captivating story, with unique concepts and beguiling imagery, told in beautiful prose and verse.
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EXCERPT:
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Text was obtained from archive.org. OCR errors were corrected, punctuation formatted, decorative fonts embedded. A brief glossary has been added, explaining some archaic words and unusual spellings.
The original layout retains the long paragraphs of the print book.
The new layout version has had numerous paragraph breaks added for more comfortable reading.
(For instance, check out Part 1 Chapter 13. In the original, 3,000 words all in one paragraph! Only the poetry at the end is separated.)
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I learned about this title by accident, and was very pleasantly surprised. I hope you like it.
Introductory preface by Lord John Coleridge (18201894)
With a glossary added for archaic terms
First published in 1837. This book is in the public domain worldwide, because the creators died more than 100 years ago, and it was published before 1923.
-----------
Sara Coleridge was an English author, poet, and translator. She was the third child and only daughter of noted poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (author of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner).
Phantasmion, Sara Coleridges longest original work and her only work of fiction, is described in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1999) as the first fairytale novel written in English. Matthew David Surridge, in his article Worlds Within Worlds, argues that it is the very first fantasy novel set entirely in an alternate world. Some historians of the fantasy genre believe Phantasmion may have influenced the work of George MacDonald.
[Adapted from Wikipedia.]
Phantasmion presents no heavy-handed parables or moral teachings. The characters, though not deeply realized, still, are not one-dimensional: heroes and heroines have flaws and weaknesses; villains sometimes exhibit kindness and generosity. It is, simply, a captivating story, with unique concepts and beguiling imagery, told in beautiful prose and verse.
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EXCERPT:
Spoiler:
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Text was obtained from archive.org. OCR errors were corrected, punctuation formatted, decorative fonts embedded. A brief glossary has been added, explaining some archaic words and unusual spellings.
The original layout retains the long paragraphs of the print book.
The new layout version has had numerous paragraph breaks added for more comfortable reading.
(For instance, check out Part 1 Chapter 13. In the original, 3,000 words all in one paragraph! Only the poetry at the end is separated.)
--------------
I learned about this title by accident, and was very pleasantly surprised. I hope you like it.