Dickerson, Matthew and David O’Hara. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press. 2006. 272 pp., $25.00 (CAD). ISBN: 1-58743-133-5.

[1] From Homer to Harry Potter is a guide to the influences of modern Western fantasy with a heavy focus on the significance of J.R.R Tolkien and, with less emphasis, C.S. Lewis. Matthew Dickerson, of Middlebury College (Vermont) and David O’Hara of Augustana College (South Dakota) draw on Tolkien’s image of fantasy as a cauldron of soup in which various ingredients have been added. The main ingredients of this soup, according to Dickerson and O’Hara, are Biblical story, Homeric epic, and Norse mythology. The first section of their book is concerned with elaborating on the importance of these ingredients to the overall construction of a genre of fantasy and fairy tale in the Western world, culminating in the creation of the Faerie worlds of Middle Earth by Tolkien, and Narnia by Lewis. In this task, Dickerson and O’Hara succeed marvelously. The integration of their own readings of these ancient stories along with reference to Tolkien’s own discourse on fantasy makes for a comprehensive understanding of the development of the heroic fantasy and fairy tale as true Story which takes place at the borders between our material world and Faerie (the world of the supernatural or divine). In the second section of the book Dickerson and O’Hara approach post-Tolkien fantasy written by Ursula Le Guin, Philip Pullman, Walter Wangerin, Jr., and J. K. Rowling.

[2] It is in this second section that Dickerson and O’Hara’s biases become clearer and more problematic. Dickerson and O’Hara rightly show the importance of Biblical text on Tolkien and Lewis. In particular the Christian understanding of an ultimate dichotomy (and battle) between Good and Evil are clearly marked in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Much fantasy that has come since these pivotal works has also drawn on this motif. It is a stock ingredient in the cauldron. However, rather than understanding this battle between Good and Evil as one ingredient which fantasy authors may choose to use (understanding, of course, that authors pull out of the cauldron with discretion and not randomly), Dickerson and O’Hara see the battle between Good and Evil, understood as a battle between a supernatural Good versus a supernatural Evil, as necessary for all fantasy. Thus, some of the more modern fantasy authors do not fair so well in their evaluation.

[3] Ursula Le Guin and Philip Pullman are both considered by Dickerson and O’Hara to have created flawed fantasy (if their works can even be considered “true” fantasy at all), because they stray from the essential battle between Good and Evil. Le Guin dares to suggest, in her Earthsea novels, that good and evil are not supernatural entities but instead tendencies within each person. Furthermore, the important task is to maintain balance between light and dark, good and evil. Thus rather than presenting a fantasy story which ultimately ends in the overcoming of Evil by Good (a true Christian message), Le Guin follows what Dickerson and O’Hara call a “Westernized Eastern mysticism” (188). While I agree with Dickerson and O’Hara that this results in a fantasy that is not particularly Christian, I find problems with their assumption that because Le Guin does not present a Christian message (or Christian compatible message) she is not creating true fantasy. The problem seems to be her swaying from the “orthodoxy” of Tolkien’s version of fantasy. Yet, if fantasy is a cauldron of soup in which various ingredients have been continually added, why stop the cooking in the 1950s? Surely it is as justifiable to draw on the later additions to the cauldron such as “Westernized Eastern mysticism,” especially considering that Le Guin wrote these novels in the late 1960s to early 1970s.

[4] Philip Pullman is also considered flawed by Dickerson and O’Hara, largely because of his anti-Christian, anti-Church rhetoric that permeates his series, His Dark Materials. Again we see a bias whereby a story that is not compatible with the Christian message of Good triumphing over Evil (rather than good and evil in balance or good and evil as opposite sides of the same coin) is not really fantasy. One irony of this perspective is that Dickerson and O’Hara begin their book adamantly claiming that one should not “reduce Story, especially that of Faerie, to mere moral platitudes or philosophical propositions” (22). Yet their very criterion of “true” fantasy is that it follows a very specific moral pattern. In fact, they view the lack of supernatural Good (i.e., God) in Le Guin and Pullman as a sign that these works are not moral at all (and thus not real fantasy). Conversely, Walter Wangerin, Jr., and J.K. Rowling fair well because they do present a world in which ultimate Good battles ultimate Evil (though in Harry Potter this is less clearly about supernatural forces).

[5] From Homer to Harry Potter is obviously a book geared toward general Christian readers. In fact, though the authors do not explicitly say so, the book is clearly an apologetic for Christian acceptance of fantasy—a reaction to the outcry against magical and mythical fiction by certain proponents of evangelical Christianity. Dickerson and O’Hara work very hard to show how Christians can enjoy fantasy literature without moving away from a Christian message. This is a valid argument and a valid project. However, they misstep when they proceed to argue that just because fantasy can promote a Christian message, it therefore must in order to be authentic fantasy.

Chris Klassen
Wilfrid Laurier University
cklassen@wlu.ca