Non-Modern Fantastic Literature

[ChillyPolly]

Are your tastes in fantastic literature exclusively modern? Or do you ever read old stuff?

I attempt below to compile a list of fantastic literature which is over a century old. Not all items are necessarily fiction; it could be legend, history, pseudo-history, religious, occult or pseudo-occult writings, etc. I have listed by author, and ordered by date of the most significant or earliest works. Please make suggestions to add to list. Also, please indicate which if any you have read, and have or have not enjoyed.

BC1240: Anonymous. BOOK OF THE DEAD /BOOK OF GOING FORTH BY DAY* (many versions; e.g. Ani Papyrus).

BC1200: Anonymous. EPIC OF GILGAMESH*[?]. [Fragmentary]

BC_800: Homer. ILIAD*, ODYSSEY*.

BC_750: Hesiod. THEOGONY; WORKS & DAYS; others.

BC_600: Moses /Various. GENESIS*, EXODUS*, others

BC_450: Herodotus. HISTORIES Bk I*.

BC_456: Aeschylus. ORESTEIAN trilogy* (AGAMEMNON*; sequels**); PROMETHEUS BOUND; others?

BC_441: Sophocles. THEBAN plays (ANTIGONE; OEDIPUS REX; sequel); AJAX; The TRACHINIAE; PHILOCTETES.

BC_430: Euripides. MEDEA; CYCLOPS; HERACLES' CHILDREN; HYPOLITUS; ANDROMACHE; HECUBA; The SUPPLIANTS; HERAKLES; The TROJAN WOMAN; IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS; ION; HELEN; ORESTES; The BACCHAE; RHESUS; IPHIGENIA IN AULIS; ELECTRA.

BC_400: Valmiki. RAMAYANA.

BC_414: Aristophanes. The BIRDS; The FROGS; PEACE; others?

BC_350: Anonymous. JATAKA TALES.

BC_300: Anonymous. [FIRST] BOOK OF ENOCH /1 ENOCH*.

BC_250: Vyasa /Various. MAHABHARATA.

BC_240: Apollonius Rhodius. ARGONAUTICA.

BC__19: Virgil. AENEID.

AD___8: Ovid. METAMORPHOSES.

AD__70: Matthew/Mark/Luke/John. GOSPELS*; REVELATION*; ACTS OF THE APOSTLES*.

AD__79: Josephus. ANTIQUITIES.

AD_160: Apuleius. METAMORPHOSES /The GOLDEN ASS.

AD_170: Anonymous. ACTS OF PAUL & THECLA*.

AD_170: Lucian. TRUE STORIES.

AD_300: Callisthenes /Anonymous. ALEXANDER Romance.

AD_630: Mohammed/Various. KORAN.

AD_712: O no Yasumaro. KOJIKI /RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS; NIHON SHOKI /NIHONGI

AD_731: Bede. ECCLESIASTIC HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE*.

AD_900: Anonymous. VOYAGE OF SAINT BRENDAN.

AD1000: Anonymous. BEOWULF*.

AD1010: Ferdowsi. BOOK OF KINGS /SHAHNAMEH

AD1020: Murasaki Shikibu. TALE OF GENJI.

AD1120: Anonymous. CATTLE-RAID OF COOLEY (TAIN BO CUALGNE)

AD1115: Anonymous. SONG OF ROLAND.

AD1135: Geoffrey of Monmouth. PROPHESIES OF MERLIN; HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN.

AD1153: Nivard of Ghent /Pierre de St.Cloud /others. YSENGRIMUS, ROMAN DE RENART; other "Reynard the Fox" versions.

AD1155: Robert Wace /Layamon /others. BRUT; ROMAN DE BRUT (2 closely-related works); others (by Wace).

AD1170: Chretien de Troyes. EREC & ENIDE; CLIGES; YVANE; LANCELOT; PERCEVAL

AD1180: Marie de France. BISCLAVRET/The WEREWOLF*.

AD1195: Anonymous. SONG OF THE NIBELUNGS.

AD1200: Anonymous. MABINOGION.

AD1207: Anonymous. SONG OF THE CID.

AD1210: Wolfram von Eschenbach. PARZIVAL.

AD1220: Snori Sturluson /Various. Prose EDDA; Poetic/Elder EDDA.

AD1275: Anonymous. SAGA OF THE VOLSUNGS*.

AD1275. Moses de Leon /Various. ZOHAR.

AD1300: Anonymous. 1001 NIGHTS (earliest surviving m.s.)

AD1300: Anonymous. "Cad Goddeu/Battle of the Trees".

AD1304: Enrique de Castilla Senador. AMADIS OF GAUL.

AD1320: Dante. DIVINE COMEDY.

AD1357: John Mandeville. TRAVELS.

AD1372: Shi Nai'an. WATER MARGIN /OUTLAWS OF THE MARSH.

AD1390: Geoffrey Chaucer. CANTERBURY TALES*.

AD1400: Anonymous. Alliterative MORTE D'ARTHURE.

AD1400: Luo Guanzhong. ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS.

AD1400: Anonymous. KEY OF SOLOMON.

AD1485: Thomas Mallory. LE MORTE D'ARTHUR*.

AD1457: Heinrich Kramer. HAMMER OF WITCHES.

AD1480: Anonymous. SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT.

AD1490: Joanot Martorell. TIRANT THE WHITE.

AD1495: Mateo Boiardo. ROLAND IN LOVE (ORLANDO INNAMORATO)

AD1516: Thomas More. UTOPIA.

AD1516: Ludvico Ariosto. RAGING ROLAND (ORLANDO FURIOSO).

AD1532: Francois Rabelais. PANTAGRUEL; sequels.

AD1580: Wu Cheng'en. JOURNEY TO THE WEST.

AD1586: Philip Sidney. Countess of Pembroke's ARCADIA.

AD1590: Edmund Spenser. The FAERIE QUEENE.

AD1604. Christopher Marlowe. DOCTOR FAUSTUS.

AD1605. Miguel de Cervantes. DON QUIXOTE[?].

AD1608: Johannes Kepler. SOMNIUM.

AD1610: William Shakespeare. The TEMPEST*; MACBETH*, HAMLET*; MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM*.

AD1638: Francis Godwin. The MAN IN THE MOONE.

AD1667: John Milton. PARADISE LOST.

AD1681: Joseph Glanvil. SADUCISM TRIUMPHANT.

AD1692: Robert Kirk. The SECRET COMMONWEALTH.

AD1693. Cotton Mather. WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD.

AD1706: Antoine Galland. 1001 NIGHTS/ARABIAN NIGHTS* (expanded/adapted from ad1300 version, supra).

AD1726: Jonathan Swift. TRAVELS (etc.) by Lemuel Gulliver*.

AD1759: Voltaire. CANDIDE[?].

AD1764: Horace Walpole. The CASTLE OF OTRANTO*.

AD1772: Jacques Cazotte. The DEVIL IN LOVE.

AD1775: Anonymous. 1001 NIGHTS (Egyptian Recension); other late Arabic versions (1800s). Richard Burton's 1001 NIGHTS (1885) and SUPPLEMENTAL NIGHTS is the best known English source for most of this late-era material.

AD1790: Robert Burns. "Tam o' Shanter"*.

AD1792: William Beckford. VATHEK*.

AD1796. Matthew Lewis. The MONK.

AD1797: Ann Radcliffe. The MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO[?]; others.

AD1798: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER.

AD1805: Jan Potocki. MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN SARAGOSSA.

AD1808: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. FAUST.

AD1810: William Blake. MILTON.

AD1811: Friedrich de la Motte Fouque. UNDINE.

AD1812: Brothers Grimm. ...CHILDREN'S & HOUSEHOLD TALES*.

AD1815: E.T.A. Hoffmann. The DEVIL'S ELIXIRS; The LIFE & OPINIONS OF TOMCAT MURR; "The Sandman".

AD1818: Mary Shelley. FRANKENSTEIN*.

AD1819: John William Polidori. The VAMPYRE*.

AD1819: Sir Walter Scott. IVANHOE*.

AD1819: Washington Irving. "Rip Van Winkle"*; "Legend of Sleepy Hollow"*.

AD1820: Charles Maturin. MELMOTH THE WANDERER.

AD1824: James Hogg. PRIVATE MEMOIRS & CONFESSIONS OF A JUSTIFIED SINNER.

AD1827: Ludwig Tiech. "The Elves".

AD1830: Joseph Smith. BOOK OF MORMON.

AD1835: Hans Christian Andersen. FAIRY TALES; other story collections.

AD1835: Nathaniel Hawthorne. "Young Goodman Brown"*; A WONDER BOOK*, & sequel; other stories.

AD1837: Edgar Allan Poe. ARTHUR GORDON PYM*; short stories*.

AD1837: Sara Coleridge. PHANTASMION.

AD1839: Fredrick Marryat. The PHANTOM SHIP*.

AD1841: John Ruskin. KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER*.

AD1842: Jeremias Gotthelf. The BLACK SPIDER.

AD1843: Charles Dickens. CHRISTMAS books; "The Signalman"*; "Captain Murderer"*; others.

AD1845: James Malcolm Rymer. VARNEY THE VAMPIRE.

AD1846: Edward Lear. NONSENSE books.

AD1847: Emily Bronte. WUTHERING HEIGHTS*.

AD1849: Elias Lonnrot. KALEVALA.

AD1851: Herman Melville. MOBY DICK*[?]

AD1855: Alexander Afanasyev. RUSSIAN FAIRY TALES*.

AD1855: Thomas Bullfinch's MYTHOLOGY (AGE OF FABLE; sequels).

AD1855: Henry W. Longfellow. The SONG OF HIAWATHA.

AD1858: George MacDonald. PHANTASTES*; PRINCESS & THE GOBLIN*; AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND*; LILITH*; "The Light Princess"*; "The Shadows"*; "The Golden Key"; others.

AD1859: Alfred, Lord Tennyson. IDYLLS OF THE KING.

AD1862: Christina Rosetti, "Goblin Market"*

AD1862: Edward Bulwer Lytton. A STRANGE STORY; THE COMING RACE.

AD1864: Jules Verne. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH*; 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA*: many others.

AD1865: Sabine Baring-Gould. The BOOK OF WERE-WOLVES; CURIOUS MYTHS OF THE MIDDLE AGES; others.

AD1865: Lewis Carroll. ALICE books*; HUNTING OF THE SNARK*.

AD1869: E.H. Knatchbull-Hugesson. PUSS CAT MEW AND OTHER STORIES FOR MY CHILDREN.

AD1871: Sheridan Le Fanu. IN A GLASS DARKLY* (with "Carmilla"); others.

AD1872: Samuel Butler. EREWHON.

AD1877: Gustave Flaubert. THREE TALES.

AD1880: Joel Chandler Harris. UNCLE REMUS books.

AD1880: Percy Greg. ACROSS THE ZODIAC.

AD1883: Richard Jeffries. AFTER LONDON; WOOD MAGIC.

AD1882: H.Rider Haggard. KING SOLOMON'S MINES*; SHE; sequels; "Black Heart & White Heart".

AD1884: A. Square (Edwin A. Abbot). FLATLAND: A ROMANCE IN MANY DIMENSIONS.

AD1885: Frank R. Stockton. "The Griffin & the Minor Canon".

AD1886: Robert Louis Stevenson. DR JECKYLL & MR HYDE*; "The Bottle Imp"*; TREASURE ISLAND[?]*; others.

AD1887: Guy de Maupassant. "The Horla".

AD1888: Edgar Fawcett. DOUGLAS DUANE; SOLARION; The GHOST OF GUY THRYLE.

AD1889: Anonymous /W.W.Gibbings. FOLK-LORE & LEGENDS - SCOTLAND

AD1889: Mark Twain. A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT.

AD1889: Andrew Lang. The BLUE FAIRY BOOK; 11 sequels.

AD1890: Joseph Jacobs. ENGLISH FAIRY TALES*; MORE ENGLISH FAIRY TALES*; other folklore collections.

AD1890: Robert Cromie. A PLUNGE INTO SPACE.

AD1891: Oscar Wilde. The PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY*; other stories.

AD1892: W.B. Yeats. IRISH FAIRY TALES; FOLK & FAIRY TALES OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY.

AD1893: Ambrose Bierce. CAN SUCH THINGS BE? (with "The Death of Halpin Frayser"*); "An Inhabitant of Carcosa"*; other short stories.

AD1893. George Griffith. The ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION; sequel.

AD1894: William Morris. WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD*; WELL AT THE WORLD'S END*; WATER OF THE WONDROUS ISLES*; SUNDERING FLOOD; NEWS FROM NOWHERE; "The Hollow Land"*; "The Folk of the Mountain Door"; others.

AD1894: Gustavus W. Pope. JOURNEY TO MARS; JOURNEY TO VENUS (sequel).

AD1894: Rudyard Kipling. The JUNGLE BOOK*; sequel*; JUST SO STORIES; "The Mark of the Beast".

AD1894: Arthur Machen. The GREAT GOD PAN*; The THREE IMPOSTERS*; The WHITE PEOPLE*; others.

AD1894: F.Marion Crawford. WANDERING GHOSTS*.
AD1895: Robert W. Chambers. The KING IN YELLOW*; The MAKER OF MOONS*; The MYSTERY OF CHOICE*; IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN*; The TRACER OF LOST PERSONS; The TREE OF HEAVEN.
AD1895: H.G. Wells. TIME MACHINE*; ISLAND OF DR MOREAU; INVISIBLE MAN; WAR OF THE WORLDS; other stories.
AD1896: Clemence Housman. "The Were-Wolf"*; The UNKNOWN SEA: The LIFE OF SIR AGLOVALE DE GALIS.
AD1897: Bram Stoker. DRACULA*; others.

AD1897: Fred T. Jane. TO VENUS IN 5 SECONDS; 2 others.
AD1898: Henry James. The TURN OF THE SCREW*; other stories.

AD1898: Anonymous. EPIC OF SUNDIATA.
AD1899: Charles W. Chestnutt. The CONJURE WOMAN.
AD1900: L. Frank Baum. The WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ*; sequels; "The Enchanted Buffalo".
AD1900: Ernest Bramah. The WALLET OF KAI LUNG; The SECRET OF THE LEAGUE.
AD1902: E. Nesbit. The FIVE CHILDREN & IT*; 2 sequels**; The BOOK OF DRAGONS.
AD1902. W.W. Jacobs. "The Monkey's Paw"*; some others.
AD1902: Augusta, Lady Gregory. CHUCHULAIN OF MUIRTHEMNE; other Irish myth/folklore collections.

AD1903: Lafcadio Hearn. KWAIDAN.
AD1904: M.R. James. GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY; other story collections.

AD1905: Lord Dunsany. GODS OF PEGANA; The BOOK OF WONDER; others
AD1907: Algernon Blackwood. "The Willows"*; "The Wendigo"; INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES; other weird stories.
AD1908: William Hope Hodgson. The HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND*; The NIGHT LAND*; The GHOST PIRATES*; The BOATS OF THE "GLEN CARRIG"*; CARNACKI, THE GHOST FINDER; MEN OF THE DEEP WATERS* (with "The Derelict"*, "From the Tideless Sea"* + sequel*; "A Voice in the Night"*, "The Mystery of the Derelict"*); "The Finding of the Graiken"*: "The Thing in the Weeds"*: "The Stone Ship"*.
AD1908: G.K. Chesterton. The MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY*; The BALL & THE CROSS*; MANALIVE*; others.
AD1908: Kenneth Grahame. The WIND IN THE WILLOWS*; "The Reluctant Dragon"*.

AD1909: E.M. Forster. "The Machine Stops".
AD1911: J.M. Barrie. PETER & WENDY*.
AD1912: Arthur Conan Doyle. The LOST WORLD; sequels.
AD1912: E.F. Benson. "The Room in the Tower"*; many other stories.
AD1912: E.R. Burroughs. A PRINCESS OF MARS*; TARZAN OF THE APES*; AT THE EARTH'S CORE*; sequels.
AD1914: Gustav Meyrink. The GOLEM.

AD1915: Kenneth Morris. "The Regent of the North".

 

 

Date given is often just an approximation, especially for ancient times. Date will tend to coincide with the first work listed in a given entry. Works listed within an entry are not necessarily in chronological order (they may be earlier or later, but all before 1915), and I am likely to list more notable works first. Shorter works will tend to be in "Quotes", while longer works and monographs tend to be in SMALL CAPS.

[sologdin]

great thread. not sure how involved we want to get with the epic cycle, but there's plenty of fantasy content in the athenian tragedians. and lucian has the first sciencey fictiony stuff. in addition to the galfridus and chretien, one might add the chronicles of wace and layamon, as well as the sir gawain and green knight and the alliterative morte arthur. statius. lucan. argonautica. shakespeare: macbeth, hamlet, 1HVI, winter's tale, the tempest. marlowe's faustus. goethe's faust. elder edda. prose edda. dante. mabinogion. sidney's arcadia. faerie queene. paradise lost!

[ChillyPolly]

Good suggestions, Sologdin. I'll work on adding them in.

[Jo498]

AD 1815 Count Jan Potocki: Le manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse

AD 1815 E.T.A. Hoffmann: The devil's elixirs (and other shorter gothic/phantastic pieces)

AD 1914 Gustav Meyrink: The Golem

(I don't really see how the Gospels or the Malleus Maleficarum qualify for fantastic literature; at least the latter is clearly non-fiction ;))

[mgambino]

Two of the great classics of Chinese literature have fantastic elements:

AD 1500s Wu Cheng'en Journey to the West

AD 1500s Shi Nai'an Outlaws of the Marsh (also known as Water Margin or Suikoden)*

* There are multiple translations of this, but my favorite is the one by Sidney Shapiro. It's the 100 chapter version of the story, which is considered by most fans to be the entire story. There is also a translation of a 70 chapter version by Pearl Buck and a 120 chapter version by Arthur Dent-Young. The 70 chapter version leaves out an important (if overlong) epilogue, and the 120 chapter version includes extra material of dubious origin.

[maarsen]

/heartfelt sigh/... I'm getting older and the reading list just keeps getting longer. Good thing I have knocked off about a third of the list already.

[SkynJay]

/heartfelt sigh/... I'm getting older and the reading list just keeps getting longer. Good thing I have knocked off about a third of the list already.

I am not at a third but I was surprised at the amount on that list I had actually read myself. I really don't give my schooling days the credit they deserve at times

[maarsen]

I am not at a third but I was surprised at the amount on that list I had actually read myself. I really don't give my schooling days the credit they deserve at times

I would have done more but some of that stuff is hard to find. Well back in the stone age, before ebooks it was.

[ChillyPolly]

AD 1815 Count Jan Potocki: Le manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse

AD 1815 E.T.A. Hoffmann: The devil's elixirs (and other shorter gothic/phantastic pieces)

AD 1914 Gustav Meyrink: The Golem

(I don't really see how the Gospels or the Malleus Maleficarum qualify for fantastic literature; at least the latter is clearly non-fiction ;))

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll get to work on including them.

The distinction between fiction and non-fiction is not meant to be the criterion. So stories that purport to be true, or even stories that actually ARE true (if you see one you consider true on the list), are included; as long as they concern the fantastic.

[sologdin]

yeah, if you start splitting out bona fide religious texts because someone believes it to be true, then all the mythical content probably has to go. better simply to adopt a definition of fantasy that does not opine on truth value.

[Seli]

I've read a lot on that list.

Other titles that might be interesting are

Rabelais - Gargantua and Pantagruel;

some more of the late medieaval romances such as Tirant lo Blanc, Amadis de Gaula;

any of the stories featuring Reynard the Fox;

the Voyage of Saint Brendan in any of its guises;

The Travels by Sir John Mandeville;

Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach;

The Song of the Niebelungs;

Song of Roland;

A version of the Alexander Romance;

A collection of surviving Irish mythology;

A collection of greek mythology (eg Graves);

Utopia by Thomas More.

There is so much out there

[ChillyPolly]

I've read a lot on that list.

Other titles that might be interesting are

Rabelais - Gargantua and Pantagruel;

some more of the late medieaval romances such as Tirant lo Blanc, Amadis de Gaula;

any of the stories featuring Reynard the Fox;

the Voyage of Saint Brendan in any of its guises;

The Travels by Sir John Mandeville;

Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach;

The Song of the Niebelungs;

Song of Roland;

A version of the Alexander Romance;

A collection of surviving Irish mythology;

A collection of greek mythology (eg Graves);

Utopia by Thomas More.

There is so much out there

Thanks for the suggestions.

Does TIRANT THE WHITE contain any fantastic or supernatural elements?

[The Marquis de Leech]

Matthew Lewis - The Monk (1796)

Charles Maturin - Melmoth the Wanderer (1820)

Elias Lönnrot - Kalevala (1835/1849)

Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)

[Darth Richard II]

There is a Greek epic that the whole Jason and the Argonauts comes from, but I can not for the life of me think of the name.

[Jo498]

One can look it up: Argonautica by Apollonios Rhodios (of Rhodes) written in the 3rd century BC. The myth is older, of course. I don't know but I think the best way to get acquainted with Classical Mythology is to read first introductory prose versions of the stories.

If one wants to read one of the big books, I'd recommend the Odyssey. (The Iliad is bound to be slightly disappointing because the Horse does not show up. Lots of ships and lots of battles and duel, though, and some parts are great)

[Darth Richard II]

Yeah I was unable to look it up at the time, thanks.

[Larry of the Lawn]

Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 1798

[ChillyPolly]

Thank you for all suggestions so far. I think I've managed to add most of them; and many more as well. I think the only suggestion I rejected was Graves, because he is too modern (however ancient his sources may be). I threw in Bullfinch instead.

[Crom Dubh]

If we're including medieval epics, a lot of the early and late medieval Irish stuff would be a go. The entirety of the Red Branch and Fenian cycles are replete with fantastical elements: gods, spirits, magic, magical weapons, otherworldly nonsense galore (and chariots! Who doesn't love a good chariot?). Hell, I'd say even many of the histories have definite fantastical elements: the War of the Gaels with the Foreigners includes prophecy, demons and spirits, a Viking sorcerer, and a magic banner that brings victory but kills the one bearing it. Very interesting stuff.

EDIT: It's anonymous, the lot of it, and the generally accepted dating of them varies from scholar to scholar. Can post back later if you want that data.

[ChillyPolly]

If we're including medieval epics, a lot of the early and late medieval Irish stuff would be a go. The entirety of the Red Branch and Fenian cycles are replete with fantastical elements: gods, spirits, magic, magical weapons, otherworldly nonsense galore (and chariots! Who doesn't love a good chariot?). Hell, I'd say even many of the histories have definite fantastical elements: the War of the Gaels with the Foreigners includes prophecy, demons and spirits, a Viking sorcerer, and a magic banner that brings victory but kills the one bearing it. Very interesting stuff.

EDIT: It's anonymous, the lot of it, and the generally accepted dating of them varies from scholar to scholar. Can post back later if you want that data.

Yes please. Personally, I don't have a good grasp on Irish mythology. My impression is that the various "cycles" of Irish myth exist as (relatively) modern collections of material that make use of a wide range of sources including many very ancient sources. Lady Gregory's collections are already mentioned above; but I'd be happy to add other things.