What does it mean to study fantasy in the very city that helped define it? From medieval chronicles to contemporary screen adaptations, Oxford Fantasy in its Natural Habitat explores the long and layered history of the fantasy genre through the lens of place, authorship, and imagination. Rather than beginning with the genre's perceived "founding fathers" Tolkien and Lewis, this seminar traces the genre's evolution from its earliest roots in myth and epic, through medieval romance, Gothic fiction, and early science fiction, to the landmark contributions of Oxford's most iconic fantasists and their successors. Each week introduces a new facet of the genre's development, from haunted castles and enchanted forests to portals, prophecies, and portraits, examining how fantasy has continually reshaped both literature and culture. Alongside critical reading, the course offers an interdisciplinary and experiential approach, combining literary analysis with theology, cultural history, philology, creative writing, and encounters with Oxford's manuscripts, buildings, and landscapes. In doing so, it asks not only how fantasy reflects and reinvents the world, but how it actively shapes it. Human history repeatedly shows that imagination is not a distraction from reality, but a force that deepens our understanding of it, making us better scholars, better storytellers, and better people. This course endeavours to demonstrate that fantasy is no mere escape: it is a return, a reckoning, and a radical way of seeing.
4-5 units · Letter (ABCD/NP) · GER: WAY-A-II
What does it mean to study fantasy in the very city that helped define it? From medieval chronicles to contemporary screen adaptations, Oxford Fantasy in its Natural Habitat explores the long and layered history of the fantasy genre through the lens of place, authorship, and imagination. Rather than beginning with the genre's perceived "founding fathers" Tolkien and Lewis, this seminar traces the genre's evolution from its earliest roots in myth and epic, through medieval romance, Gothic fiction, and early science fiction, to the landmark contributions of Oxford's most iconic fantasists and their successors. Each week introduces a new facet of the genre's development, from haunted castles and enchanted forests to portals, prophecies, and portraits, examining how fantasy has continually reshaped both literature and culture. Alongside critical reading, the course offers an interdisciplinary and experiential approach, combining literary analysis with theology, cultural history, philology, creative writing, and encounters with Oxford's manuscripts, buildings, and landscapes. In doing so, it asks not only how fantasy reflects and reinvents the world, but how it actively shapes it. Human history repeatedly shows that imagination is not a distraction from reality, but a force that deepens our understanding of it, making us better scholars, better storytellers, and better people. This course endeavours to demonstrate that fantasy is no mere escape: it is a return, a reckoning, and a radical way of seeing.
Offered in Winter 2026 at Stanford University.