Humour and Fantasy by F. Anstey
Humour and Fantasy often intertwine to explore themes of identity, societal norms, and the human experience through whimsical and absurd narratives. These genres use comedic elements and fantastical scenarios to challenge conventional perspectives and highlight the follies of characters caught in extraordinary circumstances. For example, in various stories, characters might exchange identities, such as a boy swapping places with his father, ultimately leading to mutual enlightenment about their respective lives.
Fantasy often brings mythical beings or enchanted objects into the modern world, prompting characters to confront their outdated beliefs or desires, as seen with a hairdresser's encounter with a reanimated goddess who disrupts Victorian notions of propriety. Moreover, magical elements can serve as metaphors for personal struggles, such as an artist grappling with a malevolent idol that reflects deeper vulnerabilities. The interplay of humour in these fantastical tales not only entertains but also provides insightful commentary on personal and societal issues, encouraging audiences to reflect on their realities while enjoying the absurdities depicted. Overall, the combination of humour and fantasy offers a rich landscape for exploring complex themes in a light-hearted manner.
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Subject Terms
Humour and Fantasy
First published: 1931 (contains the novels Vice Versa: Or, A Lesson to Fathers, 1882; The Tinted Venus, 1885; A Fallen Idol, 1886; and The Brass Bottle, 1900; as well as the collection Salted Almonds, 1906; and two stories from The Talking Horse, 1891)
Type of work: Collected works
Type of plot: Fantasy—Magical Realism
Time of work: The late nineteenth century
Locale: London, England
The Plot
In Vice Versa: Or, A Lesson to Fathers, a magical stone allows schoolboy Dick Bultitude to exchange bodies with his father, Paul, a businessman fond of making pompous speeches about ones school days being the happiest of ones life. The parent trapped in the childs role learns the folly of this judgment, while the boy fails to find much enjoyment in adult life and responsibility. In the end, they are glad to switch back, suitably chastened and enlightened by their experience.
In The Tinted Venus, hairdresser Leander Tweddle places an engagement ring on the finger of a statue of Aphrodite to demonstrate the slimness of his fiancées finger. This tribute reanimates the goddess incarnate in the statue, who does not realize how much the world has changed since her last manifestation. Her directness in matters of sex contrasts sharply with Victorian prudishness. This embarrassment is compounded by her threats to destroy any and all rivals for Tweddle’s affection. He is pursued by the thieves who had stolen the statue and by the police but finally contrives to set matters straight.
In A Fallen Idol, painter Ronald Campion acquires a Jain idol infused with the malevolent spirit of Chalanka, a fake holy man mistakenly promoted to a kind of godhood. The idols magical powers are limited, but their exercise casts a gradual blight upon Campion’s personal and professional life until a Norwegian Theosophist identifies the source of his troubles and comes to his aid.
In The Brass Bottle, aspiring architect Horace Ventimore buys the eponymous object at an auction and discovers sealed within it the jinn Fakrash, imprisoned long ago with the rest of his kind by Suleyman. The jinn expresses his gratitude by heaping rewards on his savior in an absurdly flamboyant manner that causes the hapless young man excruciating embarrassment. Fakrashs gratitude soon begins to wear thin, and the jinns attitude is further transformed as he realizes the extent to which the world has changed since the time of his imprisonment. As in the famous story from The Arabian Nights Entertainments of the fifteenth century, from which the central motif is borrowed, Ventimore must engage in a duel of wits with Fakrash in order to return the jinn to his bottle before serious damage is done.