An interesting exercise in literary criticism here (via A&L Daily) - Why is there no Jewish Narnia? - or, more generally, how come Jews have contributed so little to the fantasy genre, given the large part they've played in Western literature generally? The short answer:
To put it crudely, if Christianity is a fantasy religion, then Judaism is a science fiction religion. If the former is individualistic, magical, and salvationist, the latter is collective, technical, and this-worldly.
To get the long answer you'll have to read the whole thing.
It could be, of course - speaking as someone who never cared for fantasy much past adolescence - that they've got better things to do.
Not sure I'd call Narnia a contribution to the fantasy genre.
Posted by: william | February 28, 2010 at 04:51 PM
As long as we're using literary genres, I'm suggesting Judaism is more 'Adventure' or 'Western'
Not a lot of Science in the Fiction. More of a morality play.
Posted by: DaninVan | March 01, 2010 at 05:37 AM
Is Superman Science Fiction or Fantasy? Because Siegel and Shuster pretty much started that whole genre.
Posted by: Dom | March 01, 2010 at 02:04 PM
It's surely not fantasy; not in the sense meant here, of Tolkien, Harry Potter, etc.. Science fiction maybe (of a particularly lame kind).
Posted by: Mick H | March 01, 2010 at 02:27 PM