The field of theories of fantasy and the fantastic and the concomitant critical debate is profuse. This chapter argues the viability of a broad mode-based theory for the present purpose. I then identify the cultural specificity problem (the recognition of the fantastic in other cultures/times) as requiring special attention and as related to the problem of distinguishing the fantastic per se, and I present my take on it. Then, I transform fantasy theory into a fantasy perspective, that is, a fantasy-theoretical strategy of analysis for religious narrative. I specify how I intend to interact with my material on the basis of this perspective, that is, the research questions that guide my exegetical work. Finally, I briefly comment on exegetical prolegomena.

First, I offer a take on the fantasy theory field using a distinction between minimalist, genre-historical understandings of the fantastic/fantasy and maximalist, mode-based theories. The pertinence of this distinction to this study relates to the in- or exclusion of ancient and/or religious narrative within the purview of fantasy theory.

Fantasy Narrative—Ancient and Timeless or Inherently Modern?

Since the 1970s, critical and popular interest in fantasy and fantastic literature has been on the increase. In this type of literature, new and other realities are created; it is a literature replete with monsters, metamorphoses and strange occurrences. Fantastic literature, and horror too, is often said to have sprung from the Gothic tradition to be continued and developed by Hoffmann and Poe (and many others) in the nineteenth century.