Rosemary Jackson

This study argues against vague interpretations of fantasy as mere escapism and seeks to define it as a distinct kind of narrative. A general theoretical section introduces recent work on fantasy, notably Tzventan Todorov's The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (1973). Dr Jackson, however, extends Todorov's ideas to include aspects of psychoanalytical theory. Seeing fantasy as primarily an expression of unconscious drives, she stresses the importance of the writings of Freud and subsequent theorists when analysing recurrent themes, such as doubling or multiplying selves, mirror images, metamorphosis and bodily disintegration.^l Gothic fiction, classic Victorian fantasies, the 'fantastic realism' of Dickens and Dostoevsky, tales by Mary Shelley, James Hogg, E.T.A. Hoffmann, George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, R.L. Stevenson, Franz Kafka, Mervyn Peake and Thomas Pynchon are among the texts covered. Through a reading of thse frequently disquieting works, Dr Jackson moves towards a definition of fantasy expressing cultural unease. These issues are discussed in relation to a wide range of fantasies with varying images of desire and disenchantment.

The Literature of Subversion

Fantasy

Married to the most popular English novelist of the twentieth century and the model for his major female figures - from Ursula in The Rainbow to Connie in Lady Chatterley's Lover - Frieda Lawrence has till now been seen only in her role as muse, mate and harridan. This book reassesses Frieda on her own terms. It looks at her childhood in Germany, her early marriage and painful experience of leaving her three young children, the dramatic and eventful years with D H Lawrence in Europe, England, Australia and Mexico and her life after Lawrence's death in 1930. We hear of her friendships with the Huxleys, Stravinsky, her unconventional views on Eliot, Pound and the Bloomsbury set, her notorious love affairs. Illustrated with rare photographs, some previously unpublished, this is the first study to challenge the usual myths about Frieda Lawrence and to let her speak in her own voice. It includes substantial extracts from Frieda's letters and autobiographical writings, as well as a republication of her memoirs of her life with Lawrence, Not I, But the Wind.

Frieda Lawrence

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Rosey's Ramblings

Christopher M. Lee

Christopher Lee is dyslexic - his process of written language interfered with his ability to use both written and spoken English - as a result he found himself labelled handicapped. This is an account of how people like Chris can be helped to overcome the problems of dyslexia.

Rosemary Jackson

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