Colin Nicholas Manlove (4 May 1942 in

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

– 1 June 2020) was a

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

with a particular interest in

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

. ''Modern Fantasy: Five Studies'' (1975, published as by C. N. Manlove), which considers at length works by

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working ...

George MacDonald George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. I ...

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

and

Mervyn Peake Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was an English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...

, was written at a time when "no serious study of the subject f fantasy literature">fantasy_literature.html" ;"title="f fantasy literature">f fantasy literaturehas appeared". In it he posits a definition of fantasy as:

A fiction evoking wonder and containing a substantial and irreducible element of supernatural or impossible worlds, beings or objects with which the mortal characters in the story or the readers become on at least partly familiar terms.

His conclusion, however, is negative: each of the five major writers whose work he considered failed to sustain their original vision. He was a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh from 1967 until his retirement in 1993.Children's literature expert to speak at Sectus 2007
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Criticism

*''Modern Fantasy: Five Studies'' (1975) *''Literature and Reality 1600-1800'' (1978) *''The Gap in Shakespeare: The Motif of Division from Richard II to The Tempest'' (1981) *''The Impulse of Fantasy Literature'' (1983) *''Science Fiction: Ten Explorations'' (1986) *''C S Lewis: His Literary Achievement'' (1987) (updated ed.2010) *''Critical Thinking: A Guide to Interpreting Literary Texts'' (1989) *''Christian Fantasy: From 1200 to the Present'' (1992) *''The Chronicles of Narnia: The Patterning of a Fantastic World'' (1993) - Twayne's Masterwork Studies (#127) *''Scottish Fantasy Literature: A Critical Survey'' (1994) *''The Fantasy Literature of England'' (1999) *''From Alice to Harry Potter: Children's Fantasy in England'' (2003) *''The Order of Harry Potter: Literary Skill in the Hogwarts Epic'' (2010) *''Scotland's Forgotten Treasure: the Visionary Romances of George MacDonald'' (2016) *''George MacDonald's Children's Fantasies and the Divine Imagination'' (2019)

Anthologies

*''An Anthology of Scottish Fantasy Literature'' (1996)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manlove, Colin 1942 births British literary critics British speculative fiction critics Academics of the University of Edinburgh 2020 deaths