APOSTROPHES Few NAMES in Fantasyland are considered complete unless they are interrupted by an apostrophe somewhere in the middle (as in Gna’ash). The only names usually exempt from apostrophes, apart from those of most WIZARDS, heroes, and COMPANIONS on the Tour, are those of some COUNTRIES. No one knows the reasons for this.
So writes Diana Wynne Jones in The Tough Guide to FANTASYLAND which came to mind as I read Eva’s “Language of Fantasy” post this morning (and seems an apt follow-up to yesterday’s post). Now fantasy is one of my favorite genres, but it definitely has a landscape that is filled to bursting with a highly recognizable collection of prime-for-parody tropes. Originally published in 1998 (with a title-nod to the Rough Guide travel series), in this evilly-amusing work Jones skewers pretty much every one of those conventions with piercing wit.
educating alice 