Tony Shin: "A Comparison of High and Low Fantasy: Crossing Thresholds."

A Comparison of High and Low Fantasy: Crossing Thresholds

By Tony Shin

We like to believe that each novel we read is entirely distinct and therefore provides us a unique reading experience. However, almost just as popular songs tend to follow a certain chord progression (credit to Axis of Awesome), many fiction books tend to follow a certain plot structure. Joseph Campbell identified this structure and named it, “The Monomyth.”

Peter S. Beagle wrote The Last Unicorn, a high fantasy novel that exemplifies the Monomyth. The Last Unicorn is a meta-fantasy, or a work that is self-aware that it is fantastical and asks the reader to suspend his/her belief. Because the novel knows that it is a fairy tale, it embraces the classic plot structure of a fairy tale: the Monomyth. Neil Gaiman wrote a novel, Neverwhere, that also demonstrates the Monomyth, although slightly differently than how The Last Unicorn does. Neverwhere is a low fantasy work and does not admit to its fantastical nature as easily as Beagle’s novel. Consequently, although both novels follow the Monomyth plot structure, they differ in the separation and return phases of the plot, highlighting a discrepancy between high and low fantasy. High fantasy novels like The Last Unicorn stay in a fantasy world while crossing thresholds, but low fantasy novels like Neverwhere transition between a realistic world and a fantastical world while crossing thresholds.

The separation phase of Beagle’s novel occurs while the Unicorn hears from hunters that “Unicorns are long gone” (3). This call to adventure is immediately followed by the Unicorn’s refusal of call as she resolves that she “will not go. Because men have seen no unicorns for a while does not mean they have all vanished. Even if it were true, I would not go. I live here” (7). The next step in the Monomyth again immediately follows: the Unicorn becomes too restless to stay in the forest and gallops out. However, even as the Unicorn leaves her forest, the new world that she enters is not entirely more fantastical than the world she came from. Fantasy is constantly present because the story introduces a unicorn as a character even before the call to adventure. The existence of a unicorn immediately depicts fantasy. The Unicorn does not leave a realistic world when she crosses the first threshold; she always remains in a fantastical world.

Gaiman’s Neverwhere also follows the Monomyth, but not like Beagle’s novel does. Richard finds his call to adventure by becoming briefly entangled with Door’s struggles and thereafter being unable to interact with London Above. His inability to return to his normal life represents a sort of refusal of call and inevitable push towards crossing the first threshold. The marquis officially announces Richard’s crossing by telling Richard that he “can’t go back to your [Richard’s] old home or your old job or your old life… Up there, you don’t exist” (127). Door stands as a parallel to the supernatural aid, as she is his familiar anchor as he delves into the world of London Below. The world of London Below is obviously more fantastical than that of London Above; Richard lives a relatively normal life in London Above that depicts London as it exists in the real world, while London Below holds beasts, medieval weapons, and priceless historical artifacts. By crossing the first threshold, he transitions from a realistic world to a fantastical one.

The return phase of each plot works similarly because the threshold that the character crosses at the return is the same threshold that the character crosses at the separation. For high fantasy, the character returns from a fantasy world to a similar fantasy world, and for low fantasy, the character returns from a fantasy world to a realistic world.

The Last Unicorn, a high fantasy novel, does not transition to a more fantastical world, because fantasy is constantly present. Neverwhere, a low fantasy novel, does have a transition to a more fantastical world. This constant presence of fantasy in high fantasy separates it from low fantasy.

Although we can see this difference between high and low fantasy novels through Beagle’s and Gaiman’s works, we cannot assume that all other books will demonstrate the same difference. It works like the Monomyth and the Four Chords; there are enough examples to solidify the idea, but we can always point out exceptions. I think that these exceptions can be the most interesting and I search for such exceptions for this reason. If you know of some of these exceptions, I would love to hear about them.