The Dark Fantastic ― Selected Essays from the Ninth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts

This anthology of essays focuses on the darker side of the human condition as it appears in fantastic literature. The first section of the book, "The Dark Self," takes its direction from Colin Manlove's essay on Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a classic examination of the dark side of the self. Section two, "Mainstream Dark," examines mainstream authors who have used elements of the fantastic in their dark visions. "The Dark Arts," section three, examines the ways in which the fine arts deal with the darker elements of the real and the fantastic. The fourth section, "Humor in the Dark," looks at comedic elements in film and fiction. The final section features Kathryn Hume's essay "Postmodernism in Popular Literary Fantasy" and other essays that are a part of the continuing attempt to bring new critical approaches to fantastic literature.

C. W. SULLIVAN III is Professor of English at East Carolina University and a member of the Welsh Academy. He is author of Welsh Celtic Myth in Modern Fantasy (Greenwood, 1989). He is also editor of The Mabinogi: A Book of Essays, Science Fiction for Young Readers (Greenwood, 1993), and As Tomorrow Becomes Today, and coeditor of Herbal and Magical Medicine: Traditional Healing Today. His articles on science fiction, fantasy, mythology, and folklore have been published in a variety of anthologies and journals. Sullivan is past President of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and the editor of the Children's Folklore Review.