fantasy

fantasy

, phantasy

1. Psychol

a. a series of pleasing mental images, usually serving to fulfil a need not gratified in reality

b. the activity of forming such images

2. Music another word for fantasia fancy, development

3. 

a. literature having a large fantasy content

b. a prose or dramatic composition of this type

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

fantasy

[′fan·tə·sē]

(psychology)

An imagined image or series of images that serves to express unconscious conflicts, to gratify unconscious wishes, or to prepare for anticipated future events.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Fantasy

See also Enchantment.

Aladdin’s lamp

when rubbed, genie appears to do possessor’s bidding. [Arab. Lit.: Arabian Nights, “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp”]

Alice

undergoes fantastic adventures, such as dealing with the “real” Queen of Hearts. [Br. Lit.: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Through the Looking Glass]

Alnaschar

dreams of the wealth he will realize from the sale of his glassware. [Arab. Lit.: Benét, 26]

Arabian Nights

compilation of Middle and Far Eastern tales. [Arab. Lit.: Parrinder, 26]

Back to Methuselah

England in the late twenty-second century is a bureaucracy administered by Chinese men and African women. [Br. Drama: Shaw Back to Methuselah in Magill III, 82]

Baggins, Bilbo Hobbit

who wanders afar and brings back the One Ring of Power to The Shire. [Br. Lit.: The Hobbit]

Bloom, Leopold

enlivens his uneventful life with amorous daydreams. [Irish Lit.: Joyce Ulysses in Magill I, 1040]

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

magical car helps track down criminals. [Children’s Lit.: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]

Dorothy

flies via tornado to Oz. [Am. Lit.: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]

Dream Children

in a reverie, Charles Lamb tells stories to his two imaginary children. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 287]

Fantasia

music comes to life in animated cartoon. [Am. Cinema: Fantasia in Disney Films, 38–45]

Harvey

six-foot rabbit who appears only to a genial drunkard. [Am. Lit.: Benét, 444]

Jurgen

regaining his lost youth, he has strange “adventures with a host of mythical persons. [Am. Lit.: Jurgen in Magill I, 464]

Land

of the Giants a Gulliver’s Travels in outer space. [TV: Terrace, II, 10–11]

Little Prince, The

travels to Earth from his star; fable by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943). [Fr. Lit.: Benét, 889]

Lord of the Rings, The

“feigned history” of the Hobbits; epic trilogy written by J. R. R. Tolkein. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1013]

Millionaire, The

mysterious Croesus bestows fortunes on unsuspecting individuals. [TV: Terrace, II, 97–98]

Mitty, Walter

timid man who imagines himself a hero. [Am. Lit.: Benét, 1006; Am. Cinema and Drama: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]

Narnia

kingdom in which fantasy cycle of seven tales by C. S. Lewis takes place. [Children’s Lit.: Fisher, 289–290]

O’Gill, Darby

befriends dwarfdom. [Am. Cinema: Darby O’Gill and the Little People in Disney Films, 159–162]

Pan, Peter

escapes to Never Never Land to avoid growing up. [Br. and Am. Drama: Benét, 778]

Poppins, Mary

enchanted nanny guides her charges through fey adventures. [Children’s Lit.: Mary Poppins; Am. Cinema: Mary Poppins in Disney Films, 226–232]

Thirteen Clocks, The

beautiful princess is won by a disguised prince who fulfills her guardian’s task with the aid of laughter that turns to jewels. [Am. Lit.: Thurber The Thirteen Clocks in Weiss, 462]

Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The

adventures in land “somewhere over the rainbow.” [Am. Lit.: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]

Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.