Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment

by David G. Hartwell (Editor, Contributor), Kathryn Cramer (Editor)

Forty-four tales of fantasy and the fantastic include works by Robert Heinlein, Theodore Sturgeon, Ray Bradbury, Samuel Delany, Poul Anderson, Ursula Le Guin, L. Frank Baum, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Mark Twain

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Science Fiction Fantasy, Collections, Speculative Fiction

638 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1988

About the author

David Geddes Hartwell was an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He worked for Signet (1971-1973), Berkley Putnam (1973-1978), Pocket (where he founded the Timescape imprint, 1978-1983, and created the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing line), and Tor (where he spearheaded Tor's Canadian publishing initiative, and was also influential in bringing many Australian writers to the US market, 1984-date), and has published numerous anthologies. He chaired the board of directors of the World Fantasy Convention and, with Gordon Van Gelder, was the administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award. He held a Ph.D. in comparative medieval literature.

He lived in Pleasantville, New York with his wife Kathryn Cramer and their two children.

Reviews

[Kalin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generally enjoyable compilation, although I found many of the older pieces to be--well, past their prime. ;)

A few words about/from my favorites:

https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is literally a who's who of famous authors: Le Guin, Baum, Bradbury, Twain, Dickens, Dunsany, Moorcock, Morris, Delaney, Saki, Hawthorne, etc., etc., etc. Some very good stories here.
Covers the period from the 1800's up through the 1980's.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.

I found this book at a used book shop and based on the table of contents, snapped it up. It contains short stories by most all of the big names in fantasy that I've heard of but have never gotten around to reading (Delaney, Le Guin, Russ), some I've heard of (Baum, Stockton), many I had not heard of at all, and some names I associated with Sci Fi (Dick, Heinlein) or literary fiction (Twain, Dickens, Hawthorne).

I really appreciated the chance to sample work by all these famous authors and the introduction to each story by the anthologist provided context about the author's body of work and the included story in particular that was like a mini class in the history of fantasy that was worth the price of the book alone, but overall, I found myself thinking "And this is why I've never gotten around to reading this author" - their work just isn't to my taste. About a third the stories I didn't finish or skimmed and a large number of the one's I did finish I didn't think were that good (in particular, Gene Wolfe's "The Dective of Dreams" in which, spoiler alert, the demon stalking people's dreams is Jesus. It's Jesus. It's... ::flips table::). And, for an anthology that was compiled in 1988, there was a shocking number of stories full of racist tropes and just gross male bullshit (Avram Davidson's "Great is Diana," a rambling tale of drunken, male dinner party guests going on and on about women's breasts and sharing a tall tale about a women with a "multitude of breasts" that some guy groped once, I'm looking at you).

However, there were quite a few standout stories that I enjoyed very much, and was very glad to have read them. Overall, this was a great book to read for a quick "introduction to the history of fantasy" and it gave me a new appreciation for the breadth and depth of the genre.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most anthologies, this is a mix of good and mediocre and really good. One of the bigger, more unusual selling points is that range contained within the covers. It is not stuck in one century or in one area of the world. The stories reach back to the 1800's and onwards so it's interesting to see how the idea of fantasy changed over time. Not to mention language.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stories, some meh stories. Good lunchtime reading.

[Howard Brazee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy most of the stories from the 19th century, but liked the stories I remember from a half-century ago. But it's good to read them if you're interested in fantasy.

[Katya Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read about 1/3 of the stories.

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many great stories by many authors.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, the title oversells it slightly. Not all of these are "masterpieces"; some have been rescued from an obscurity that they richly deserved. Others are masterpieces, or at least good stories, but I had read about half of those already.

I got this volume (second-hand; no Kindle edition is available) the same week that the unfortunate death of its editor was announced, and thought that reading it would be a suitable way of honouring his contribution to the SFF field. It's disappointing, therefore, that I didn't think it was an especially great collection.

Some of the pieces are by famous pre-20th-century or early-20th-century authors, not all of whom are thought of primarily as SFF writers: Charles Dickens ("The Magic Fishbone"), Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Feathertop: A Moralized Legend"), Horace Walpole ("Hieroglyphic Tales"), John Collier ("Bird of Prey"), Frank R. Stockton ("The Bee-Man of Orn"), Mark Twain ("The Canvasser's Tale"), Saki ("Tobermory"), William Morris ("Lindenborg Pool"), Sara Coleridge ("Phantasmion"), L. Frank Baum ("American Fairy Tales"). Most of these, unfortunately, while of historical interest in some cases, are not outstanding or memorable stories. Some had not been reprinted for a long time before this volume, and generally I could see why.

Other pieces are genre classics from well-known SFF masters: Ursula K. Le Guin ("The Rule of Names", from the Earthsea setting), Joanna Russ ("The Man Who Could Not See Devils"), Gene Wolfe ("The Detective of Dreams"), Theodore Sturgeon ("The Silken-Swift"), Fritz Lieber ("Space-Time for Springers"), A. Merritt ("The Moon Pool"), Lord Dunsany ("The Sword of Welleran"), Poul Anderson ("Operation Afreet"). These stories are all deservedly well known, and found in plenty of other collections; I've read them all elsewhere, some more than once.

There's a third group of authors who are more obscure, and whose stories are also somewhat obscure; Margaret St. Clair's "The Goddess on the Street Corner", Wyman Guin's "The Root and the Ring", Lucy Clifford's "The New Mother", Christopher Pearse Cranch's "The Last of the Huggermuggers", Stephen Vincent Benet's "The King of the Cats", Kenneth Morris's "3 Tales". None of them inspired me to track down more work by these authors.

A fourth and final group contains well-known SFF authors represented by stories that I hadn't previously read: Elizabeth A. Lynn's "The Red Hawk", Anthony Boucher's "Mr. Lupescu", Ray Bradbury's "Uncle Einar", Avram Davidson's "Great Is Diana", Philip K. Dick's "The King of the Elves", Samuel R. Delaney's "The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers", L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt's "The Green Magician", Robert A. Heinlein's "Our Fair City", and Michael Moorcock's apparently self-parodying "Elric at the End of Time". Most of these I enjoyed; a couple I found forgettable.

Averaging the stories out, then, I give the collection as a whole three stars. There's some good stuff, but some very ordinary stuff along with it, and about half of the good stuff is already widely collected.

[Sandra Knapp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do enjoy some Fantasy, but some of these tales were so outrageous, I just couldn't relate to at all, not even a chuckle could be enjoyed. I struggled to get through most of the stories that I did read, and finally just gave up. It was not holding my interest well enough to keep me reading on.

[Amy]

Twentysome years later, I would recommend looking at this collection as a history of short form fantasy, often hard to push through, but with many interesting gems, and a good lesson on the roots of the genre.

[bluetyson]

Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment by David G. Hartwell (1996)

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of fantasy stories.