Meaning of high fantasy | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A subgenre of fantasy fiction set in a secondary world or fantasy world as opposed to the primary world or real world.
   uncountable
2. A subgenre of fantasy fiction that focuses on universal events, instead of just those directly associated with the main characters.
   uncountable
3. A work in this subgenre.
   countable

Examples

“Fantasy fiction has been categorized and described in different ways. One classification divides fantasy into two major types:¶ low fantasy, which takes place in the primary world (our world);¶ high fantasy, which takes place in alternative worlds.”

“A term used by Lloyd Alexander in a 1971 essay on “High Fantasy and Heroic Romance" and subsequently developed by Kenneth J. Zahorski and Robert H. Boyer in an attempt to develop a terminology with which to deal with genre materials. In Zahorski and Boyer's taxonomy, high fantasy consists entirely of fiction set in second worlds, while the low fantasy with which it is immediately contrasted consists of fiction set in the primary world, into which magical objects and entities are introduced piecemeal (ie. intrusive fantasy).”

“High fantasy of the George RR Martin kind hinges on world-building. When there really is a whole world to build, and not just a historical period or a particular country, world-building does not take a few paragraphs in a short story; it takes chapters.”

“High fantasy is a complex, philosophical form of literature that focuses on themes such as the conflict between good and evil.”

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