Andrew Kuznetsov on High and Low Fantasy

High Fantasy and Low Fantasy

By Andrew Kuznetsov

Fantasy books tend to tell a story. They tend to have an intriguing beginning, and an ending with an element of either consolation or contemplation. What lies in between, however, cannot be generalized quite as easily. Both high and low fantasy adhere to (at very least, loosely) to Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. In order to delve into this, we can examine Neil Giaman’s Neverwhere and Tolkien’s The Hobbit as two examples of fantasy, Neverwhere being low fantasy due to the protagonist’s wanderings in real world London.

The Hobbit very clearly follows this structure, starting with a “Call to Adventure” when Gandalf visits Bilbo and offers him a spot on a questing party, with even a bit of “Refusal of the Call” as Bilbo attempts to get out of going on the quest. The “supernatural aid” element is clear to see, as the questing party is initially lead by Gandalf, a powerful wizard. The next section of the hero’s journey, “The Crossing of the Threshold,” is easy to see as Bilbo and the questing party ride on their ponies from the sunny lands that Bilbo is used to seeing, into the dark forest. Soon, Gandalf introduces the questing party to Beorn, a shape-shifter who is powerful enough to warrant comparing him to Campbell’s “Meeting with the God” element of the monomyth, as Beorn also has a land of magical talking animals. The element of “temptations and trials” is fairly clear, as the dwarves are lured into traps in the dark forest, hoping to get food and warmth. True to the monomyth, Bilbo has a “Revelation” as the party is later ambushed by goblins, and, ring in hand, transforms into a more confident leader; as evidenced by his planning of the clever escape from the Wood Elves. Lastly, no monomyth would be complete without the final leg of its circular self. In the last few chapters of the story, Bilbo and the crew head back, retracing the many different locations that they had passed. At this moment, Bilbo has become a “master of two worlds,” having already been a master of his nice and comfortable hobbit home, and now a master of the world outside that hobbithole.  In the end, just like the monomyth predicted, Bilbo returns directly back to his home: his little hobbithole. 

Neverwhere also is not immune. The “Call to Action” is clear as daylight: a bleeding child lying on the street. There is also an element of “Refusal of the Call,” as Richard desperately attempts to communicate with London Above, a world which refuses to acknowledge his presence. Richard’s “Supernatural aid” is fairly easy to spot: Door is a magical door opener, and Hunter is an impossibly strong bodyguard, just to name a few. The monomyth element, “Crossing the threshold” is quite literal in the book, as Richard crosses a bridge early in the novel in order to get the floating market, only to realize how unforgiving London below is on reaching the other side. Door and Richard’s meeting with the Angel very clearly bears a resemblance to the “Meeting with the God” element, and Richard soon has a “Revelation” (the Hunt or the mental trials through which he must go through to get the key), and becomes a Warrior and functional member of the team. Having exited London below at the end of the novel, Richard, true to the monomyth, is a “master of both worlds,” having experienced both, and attempts to return to his life. 

However, the distinction between low and high fantasy is clear here. High fantasy must follow a more formal unwritten set of rules, with a sense of dignity that stems from having to create an entirely new fantastical world, rather than a mashup of the real world and a fantasy world. Whereas Tolkien’s The Hobbit clearly follows the monomyth step for step, Neverwhere often deviates. For example, Richard was never truly a “master of both worlds,” as Gaiman goes out of his way to demonstrate Richard as a real world scrub working some sort of 9-5 job at a financial office with an overbearing girlfriend. Bilbo, on the other hand, is clearly shown as being extremely comfortable in his dwelling. Further, while Bilbo entirely returns to his previous life in his hobbithole at the end of the novel, Richard does no such thing. Upon returning to his old world, Richard decides that London below is a tad more interesting, and, in the end, decides to slip back into London below.