The fantastic literature : case study : Beowulf, Swift, and Soyinka

الملخص EN

It is not commonly agreed on what the work of fantasy is; therefore there is not a precise definition for the ‘fantastic work’.

Because the concept “fantasy” is too "fuzzy", the focus has been on literature as it is the field where most advanced works of fantasy were produced and have been subject to much criticism.

This is probably because literature has a longer history, a wide use and more productions of works connected to fantasy.

The rigorous analysis of literary fantastic works has helped critics to highlight the elements that rendered this genre as a marvellous work, a work of science fiction or a work that blends both.

This article tends to define the work of fantasy by getting back to what has been thought of as a “Western origin” since the time of the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century.

It is worth to examine the subject of the work of fantasy in the African literature, particularly, the Western African novel.

This serves as refutation to the idea that the fantastic work is a Western type of literature.