highfantasy (countable anduncountable,pluralhigh fantasies)
- (uncountable) Asubgenre offantasyfiction set in asecondary world orfantasy world as opposed to theprimary world orrealworld.
2008, Nikki Gamble, Sally Yates, “Fantasy and Realism”, inExploring Children's Literature,→ISBN,page120: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.
2009,Brian Stableford, “HIGH FANTASY”, inThe A to Z of Fantasy Literature,→ISBN,page198: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).
2015 May 20, Natasha Pulley, “Fantasy cannot build its imaginary worlds in short fiction”, inThe Guardian[1],→ISSN: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.
- (uncountable) Asubgenre offantasyfiction thatfocuses onuniversalevents, instead of just thosedirectlyassociated with themain characters.
1997, Barbara Stoodt, “Make-Believe”, inChildren's Literature,→ISBN,page195:High fantasy is a complex, philosophical form of literature that focuses on themes such as the conflict between good and evil.
- (countable) Awork in this subgenre.
highfantasy (comparativemorehigh fantasy,superlativemosthigh fantasy)
- (psychology) Having arichfantasylife; including havingimaginarycompanions and playingpretendgames.
2004 June, Tanya Sharon, Jacqueline D. Woolley, “Do monsters dream? Young children’s understanding of the fantasy/reality distinction”, inBritish Journal of Developmental Psychology[2], volume22, number 2, archived fromthe original on6 March 2015, page295:Some children are much more inclined than others to engage in fantastical pursuits, such as pretending or having an imaginary companion (Taylor, 1999). Such ahigh fantasy orientation (FO) could have great potential relevance to children’s beliefs in fantastical figures.
2014, Candida Clifford Peterson, “Preschoolers”, inLooking Forward Through the Lifespan[3],→ISBN, page237:Jerome Singer (1973) divided a group of children aged six to nine years intohigh-fantasy and low-fantasy groups on the basis of their frequency of playing pretend games as contrasted with other kinds of play
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