J. TOLKIEN VS A.

SAPKOVSKYI: CANON AND AROUND IT

INTRODUCTION

A characteristic feature of the modern literary process is the extraordinary pop-

ularity of the fantasy genre, which has recently become a phenomenon of world mass
culture. Fantasy is read by representatives of different strata of society, jobs, ages, by
humanitarians and technic scholars, workers and retired people – almost everyone is
interested in it, especially, young people from 14 to 25. At least, there are two reasons
of such an overwhelming interest in fantasy “from schoolchildren to academicians”
(in comparison with other genres). On the one hand, in recent years, there has been a
growing public affection to folk traditions and historic roots of a particular geo-
graphic territory, and national varieties of fantasy can be excellent examples of how
not only to demonstrate them, but also to be a platform for a reader to find an answer
to urgent social and personal questions, to get an experience in many life spheres.
Fantasy writers reconsider national mythology and folklore and create unique worlds
where the traditional and the real are harmonically intertwined with the author's
imagination. On the other hand, the difficulties, hardships and routine of modern
"real" life readers are exhausted even subconsciously require searching for some vent
able to reincarnate, to encourage - in such case people feel the necessity in the infor-
mation imaginary, metaphysical, "irreal", to generally occur in atmosphere different
from they exist; to take their mind off, to distract themselves from the earthly affairs,
to entertain, or just to relax, people make use of fantasy books.
Today, it is rather difficult to enumerate all representatives of this genre, among
which the irrefutable leadership is given to the English-speaking writers J. Tolkien
and his "The Lord of the Rings", K. Lewis and his "Chronicles of Narnia", J. Rowling
with novels about Harry Potter, T. Pratchett and his "Discworld"; American masters
of the word – J. Martin and his "The Song of Ice and Flame", R. Jordan and his
"Wheel of Time", W. Le Guin – "The Wizard of Earthsea" and many others. Ukrain-
ian writers don’t fall behind their foreign colleagues. Every year bookstore shelves
are replenished with novels by Ukrainian fantasy writers (brothers Avramenkos, Dara
Korniy, V. Polozhiy, O. Ladyzhenskyi, Maryna and Serhiy Diachenkos, etc.).
It is natural that a great number of foreign and Ukrainian scholars are nowa-
days interested in fiction of such type. Among Russian scholars, E. Kharitonov [37],
O. Lebedev [20], Yu. Kagarlytskyi [13], T. Savytska [32], S. Koshelev [18], R.
Kabakov [12], A. Barkov [1], etc. Among Ukrainian – T. Riazantseva [31], O. Buivol
[4], N. Vysotska [5], T. Bovsunivska [2], O. Kovtun [ ], N. Krynytska [19], O. Mon-
akhov [ ], Y. Yegorov [9], Ye. Kanchura [14], O. Cherniavska [ ], L. Yavorska [ ], O.
Bondina [ ] and others; among foreigners – F. Mendlesohn [ ], J. Grant [ ], J. Klut [ ],
H. Carpenter [ ], B. Attebery [ ], C. Manlove [ ], R. Jackson [ ], G.K. Wolfe [ ],
M.A. Fabrizi [ ], P. Hunt, M. Lenz [ ], T. Shippey [ ], etc. The specific character of a
research paper in sphere of fantasy fiction today is that it is extremely dynamic and,
most importantly, always relevant. This literature exists in a constant invisible dia-
logue "author-researcher" because the issue of each new research accompanies the
birth of a new fictional piece, so a fantasy discourse is organized and is persistently
developing.
Moreover, it should be taken in account that research of fantasy was initiated in
the West Europe, namely, in Great Britain where The British Fantasy Society was
founded in 1971, and since 1972 the prestigious annual The British Fantasy Award
was established (especially, for the best fantasy novel). The similar considerable pub-
lic and scientific interest in fantasy literature is a motivating factor for the birth of na-
tional research communities, the focus of which is this literary phenomenon. In par-
ticular, the date of June 17, 2015 deserves special attention as at the Institute of Liter-
ature named T.G. Shevchenko of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine the Cen-
ter for the Study of Fantasy Literature (CSFL) was established, initiated by Doctor of
Philology, Professor T. Riazantseva and Candidate of Philological Sciences, Asso-
ciate of Professor Ye. Kanchura. The key issues that determine the range of the scien-
tific priorities of the Center's members professional communication are the definition
of the genre nature of fantasy in itself (genre, meta-genre, modality), interpretation
and implementation, intermediate projects of fantasy, literature sources, national ver-
sions, translation strategies, etc. The participants of the Center systematized the mate-
rials accumulated from 2002 to 2020. The result of their work on fantasy is about 30
theses, the powerful database of bibliographic sources (about 1000), 10 scientific
seminars (the last took place on January 8, 2021). During this time, the work of CSFL
reached the international level as conferences were held in Poland, Ireland, Bulgaria
and other countries. The so-called Pratchett-project was also founded, which exclu-
sively studies the creative method of T. Pratchett. In addition, it is interesting to re-
mark that Google resource “Academia” numbers 7,000 positions of “fantasy litera-
ture” and about 60,000 when narrower required. Thus, it brightly illustrates the level
of popularity of fantasy literature among the world readers and professional scholars.
Consequently, needless to repeat that fantasy is not only unmeasurably popular
genre today, but it is a specific literary system as its specifics causes so much schol-
ars’ attention. It is more important to note that each of its creators – is also extraordi-
nary and original personality, and each work – is a unique fiction piece where the par-
ticular world is arranged, which characters live by its own laws and in its special
form the author represents the problems of our time. This component – uniqueness
and dissimilarity of a separately taken work – introduces a wide field for exploration
to researchers of the genre, as the artistic world of each work is formed by completely
different elements and have the special fictional characteristics.
No wonder, actively and persistently increasing volume of fantasy production
stimulates the birth of qualitatively new perspective in the study of this literature.
Nowadays, it is comparative fantasy literary studies. Its essence is in comparing fan-
tasy fiction written by representatives of different countries or several works by the
same author. The comparative description of the novels "The Last Wish" by the Pol-
ish author A. Sapkovskyi and "The Lord of Rings” by the English writer J. Tolkien
seems rather resultative in this respect. Taken separately, these works are very well
studied, and the comparative aspect still seems to have some uninvestigated issues.
This primarily concerns the genre nature of these works, the study of which should
bring the researcher closer to understanding not only their artistic separate specificity,
but also, more than that, should determine the national special character of the given
works, and add some new features to a thorough picture of fantasy genre on the a
whole. To clarify mechanisms of this author’s inheritance of J. Tolkien’s principles of
fantasy-text arrangement is a very significant item of the research, also. Therefore,
the relevance of this research is explained by the necessity to organize the compara-
tive study of the specifics of the genre nature of the famous Polish author – here is
the purpose of this paper. The following tasks serve to realize this goal:
1) to identify the genesis and chief genre features of fantasy literature;

2) to represent J. Tolkien’s contribution into the development of fantasy genre

and constituents of his fantasy-canon;

3) to establish the genre specificity of the fantasy novels "The Last Wish" by A.
Sapkovskyi;

4) to define the common and the different in these authors’ approaches to the
formation of the genre model of fantasy;

5) to make a trying to grasp the Polish author’s way of following Tolkien’s tra-
ditions in their novels.

The object of research is the book "The Last Wish" by A. Sapkovskyi, and the
subject of research is comparative poetics of the fantasy texts of the mentioned nov-
els.

FANTASY IN MODERN LITERARY STUDIES

1.1. Fantasy theory base: origin and genre features

In itself, the word "fantasy" in an ordinary reader's imagination inspires various

pictures - mysterious forest inhabited by dragons, fairies, goblins, or magic wands
and mystical castles. It happens because of any fantasy piece was born thanks to the
“fantastic” thinking energy of the writer, first of all, but, in general, in this literature
there are no limits to make up the incredible, and this factor allows the creative ca-
pacities to be unmeasurable. As a result, communication between the reader and the
author often seem enigmatic, as the first tries to decode everything suggested by the
creator between lines of the imaginary worlds. Our associations, our own experience,
hopes, dreams, fears, as well as moral principles and spiritual values are always help-
ful to understand a fantasy author. Such heterogeneity as a sign of primarily misunde-
standable magical content of the textual structure is caused in much because of to the
interaction in it the elements from many genre systems. The panoramic review of fan-
tasy genesis will make us easier to grasp the special structure of the novels for de-
tailed analysis further on.

Modern researchers unanimously state that fantasy literature originated, firstly,

from folklore - fairy tales, archaic myths, heroic songs, as well as from in chivalrous
medieval novels, romanticism of the early XIX century, and mystical literature of the
XIX-XX centuries. Arthurian series also play a significant role, in particular, the mo-
tive of the Holy Grail, baroque traditions and stylistic features of postmodern times.

Presently, it is universally acknowledged that it is rooted in fantastic literature.

It is a popular form of fiction, as well as a method of fictional thinking based on the
irreal and the supernatural. Such characteristics eloquently indicate that, in addition to
the real, in science fiction there is a place for another world, which can be imagined,
but which, like the real one, exists according to its own rules.

As a type of an author’s fiction, fantastic fiction is divided into science fiction

and fantasy. Science fiction is often interpreted as a literary genre that has gained spe-
cial popularity among young people, and fantasy - as a kind of fairy tales for adults,
which describe mainly the struggle between Good and Evil. Before being to be stud-
ied by scholars, fantasy was spoken about by creative people. American science fic-
tion writer Lynn Carter defined "fantasy" as "a story about miracles that belong nei-
ther to the scientific world nor to the afterlife" [cited. for: 38]. And his compatriot
Ray Bradbury remarked that "science fiction is the reality that surrounds us", it
"teaches to think and therefore to make decisions, identify alternatives and lay the
foundations for future progress" [quote. for: 7, c. 210]. The points of connection be-
tween these types of authorial thinking and description of the fictional world are vivid
in the title of O. Lebedev’s article on Strugatski brothers' fiction: "Realistic fiction or
fantastic reality?" [20]. Evidently, sometimes fiction and fantasy were used as syn-
onymous literary terms, sometimes there was a substitution or interchange of these
concepts.

Numerous literary studies also demonstrate that fantasy literature has its key
roots in fantastic fiction, which is defined as "a genre of literature, as well as works
describing phenomena, irreal events that do not exist in reality, and which contain
fairy-tale images" [45]. In this context, the question arises about the common and the
different between these two varieties of the fantastic. The similarity between them is
that fantasists appeal to fairy-tale fiction, solving the same problems as science fic-
tion authors. However, they have more differences. The difference is that “… fantasy
explained the unusual, the impossible in the most bizarre ways, where the transforma-
tion was motivated by scientific experiments, miracles were created by aliens from
space. Anything could happen in fantasy, but usually something that doesn't really
happen. Science fiction was about what could happen in the future or under certain
circumstances” [7, p.210].

O. Kovtun suggests the definition of the difference between these two genres
with the statement that the fictional world of fantasy is based on the strict laws of
logic, which do not allow complete arbitrariness of the imagination. It also empha-
sizes the importance of the moment the reader is introduced to the imaginary reality.
"Fantasy assumptions transform reality instantly: as the plot began, the reality is no
longer what it used to be. There is no adaptation to the extraordinary, in contrast to ra-
tional fiction, which introduces the extraordinary into reality gradually, trying to pre-
serve the real world, adding to it only some previously unknown features "[22, p.50].
In the works of science fiction there is no contradiction with the real laws of the mod-
ern world, whereas fantasy from the first lines transforms the world, changing reality.

Despite some contradictions in the definitions above, it is still possible to iden-

tify the main features that distinguish fantasy from other (besides fantastic) genres.
To begin with, these include the obligatory presence of magic, irrationality and unsci-
entificity, the coexistence of different worlds, the medieval environment. These fea-
tures are viewed as fantasy genre roots.

One of the most powerful source of fantasy literature is a fairy tale, and, ac-
cording to O. Osipov’s definition, “fantasy in terms of external parameters is a kind
of fantastic tale. But the fiction of this type has their own distinctive features. First,
there is almost always a world that has nothing to do with the usual reality and is in-
habited by frequent fictional characters. The heroes of the genre live by the laws of
the "fantasy" world, and only the psychology of their actions and deeds can evoke the
usual, traditional associations in the reader. Secondly, genre that is being discussed
widely uses the element of the irreal, divine, otherworldly. Finally, in this direction
there are almost always battles, horrors, etc. " [41, p.320].

However, all the features above are also widely used in the genre of fairy tales.
This is due to the fact that both fantasy and fairy tale have a common historical basis
- a folk tale. As it is stated in the literary encyclopedic dictionary, "a fairy tale is a
narrative, usually folk-poetic work about fictional characters and events, mostly with
the participation of magical, fantastic forces" [27]. It is easy to notice that both fairy-
tale and fantasy works have a magical beginning, which is their main genre feature.
This can be explained by the folklore basis and mythological worldvision, according
to which nature is a powerful force, the possibilities of which should not be ne-
glected.

The feature uniting these two genres are the characters of the stories. All of
them are quite schematic and embody certain characterological traits of a person or
an animal. For example, the Fox is always a cunning beast, Pinocchio is inquisitive,
and the Hare is a coward. The similar situation occurs in the books of fantasy, but the
heroes of this genre can already embody more complex character traits. In his paper,
the prominent scholar V.V. Propp identified eight types of heroes of fairy tales and
fantasy works. The Hero, the Villain, the Dispather, the Helper, the Father (King), his
Daughter (Princess), the Donor, the False Hero are included here [ ]. It is notable that
such a contraversial nature of the enumarated personages hint at moral problems re-
lating to fantasy and a fairy tale, and the artistic means to express them in these gen -
res are proved to be insufficient, too, and, moreover, similar characters are very fre-
quently used by fantasy-authors. Besides, between a fairy tale and fantasy there is
some commonness, namely magic, animals, speaking plants and flowers, an allegori-
cal solution of moral problems. But the difference between them is "the unfolding
and completeness of the story, which the author tells: if a fairy tale offers a separate
plot, the fantasy may contain several plot moves and lines" [31].

Despite the large number of common features, there are significant differences
between the two genres. The first is the number of storylines (usually, fantasy works
develop several of them). The second is the appeal of fantasy to the mythological, so
the fairy-tale pattern is combined with the mythological plot and motive. The third
difference is their common feature. There is a kind of paradox, but each genre uses its
own folklore basis. "For a literary tale, folklore serves as a kind of foundation on
which the image of the modern writer of the world is built" [28, p.160]. And fantasy
authors use this archaic base to create new and individual myths or as a way to play
with a reader. It should be noted that foreign writers also joined the dispute on the
fairy tale as a genre sourse of fantasy fiction. Some researchers call the fantasy litera-
ture "impossible reality" (S. Lem, H. Gernsbeck). In particular, Lem emphasizes the
idea of the fabulous roots of fantasy [ ]. A. Sapkovskyi, on the contrary, says that rel-
atively few authors use only fairy-tale motives because "at the disposal of those who
created this genre, … was much better material: Celtic mythology - Arthurian legend,
Irish, Breton or Welsh legends” [c. 205].

In addition to this, researchers also view the origin of fantasy literature in

chivalrous medieval novels, Gothic novels, romantic adventure novels the early XIX
century, mystical literature of the XIX-XX centuries.

Chivalrous novel is considered the leading lyric-epic genre of the Middle Ages.
The core of his plots are Breton sagas about the legendary King Arthur and his sup-
porters, along with such works as "Tristan and Isolde", "Lancelot". Taken together,
they are powerful helpers in arranging fantasy literature. After all, they are both based
on the motive of travel, contain many battle scenes and the concept of Good and Evil
struggle. The main feature of such a novel is the emergence of unexpected plot
moves, which requires the characters to be able to quickly and correctly make deci-
sions and act courageously. Such poetical features as the compositional unpredictabil-
ity, the adventure plot, the entourage of the Middle Ages, the mythology of the story
connect this novel with fantasy literature, as well as it greatly contributes to fantasy-
texts.

This novel is replaced by the Gothic novel, which is interpreted as a "horror

novel", a "black novel". Its main features are the presence of a demonic hero, mysti-
cism, immersion in the peculiarities of the human psyche, its perception of fear, the
presence of religious and political motives. Bright elements of the Gothic novel are
manifested in the fantasy works of J. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and J. Mar-
tin's "Song of Ice and Flame". By the way, T. Savytska, who is a convinced supporter
of the idea of a separate literary and cultural phenomenon of fantasy, Gothic literature
fell into fantasy, science fiction and horror literature, so one can assume that fantasy
originated at the turn of the XVII-XXVIII centuries [ ].

Adventure novel, as an example of the coexistence of romantic and neo-roman-

tic style, also contributed to the development of fantasy. They are based on the rapid
development of events, the vague division of heroes into positive and negative, the
motives of persecution and abduction, and secrets as keys to create an atmosphere of
quest in which heroes act. S. Belokurov in the dictionary of literary terms was the
first to involve this genre component into the definition, saying that “fantasy is a
kind of combination of fairy tale, science fiction and adventure chivalrous novel "[57,
p.190].

At the end of XIX - the beginning of XX century, when, in fact, fantasy begins
its history, certain historical circumstances determine the increasing of interest to
myth on a qualitatively new level. It is worthy speaking about it separately as the
methods and technical progress known so far stopped answering the eternal questions
of Good and Evil, moreover, a person becomes inevitably dependent on machines.
Ye.Kanchura calls myth as but far the dominant source of fantasy, she emphasizes
that “there is a growing interest in myth as a deep foundation of historical and cul-
tural life. The birth of literature that could oppose the mechanization of life, motivate
people to seek the path to eternal truth, to the good in the depths of the soul and
would be based on the author's interpretation of mythological systems, would be his-
torically justified "[14, p. 50].

This feature, as well as mythological elements were used by fantasists to orga-

nize a new text structure. I. Vinterle proves that myth is “the legend of gods, spirits,
heroes connected with them by their origin, about predecessors, acting directly and
indirectly in creation of the world, its elements, natural, as well as cultural” [ c.37].
So, borrowed from mythology motives, plots, images, as well as the manner of think-
ing (namely, legends about King Arthur, Konan The Barbarian, various heroes and
creatures), live their “new” life in fantasy texts for children and adults.

The matter is, any secondary or otherworld typical of a fantasy text is built on
the base of some mythical system, as it helps to organize logic, true-to-fact, made-up
land capable to seem real. The authors of fantasy are convinced that a myth related to
more ancient layers of culture is easier to believe facing allusions to it in a text. One
more specific feature of numerous mythical signs in fantasy text lays in the fact that
practically all mentioned above genres can be transformed within the fantasy text
thanks to the author’s concept, and, consequently, can be perceived as a myth. It is
brightly demonstrated, for instance, in case of the common and the different between
a myth and a fairy tale. They both provide fantasy with the plot and characters sys-
tem, however, semantically, a fairy tale is a fiction, a lie (contrasting to a myth), but
in terms of a fantasy text it often resembles real, in comparison with an accustomed
fairy tale beyond the context that is viewed as a fairy tale.

Actually, the most conroversial among fantasy scholars were questions about
the genesis, terminological base and genre specifics of fantasy, their explorations are
realized in numerous researches all over the world. Emerged from the depths of
mythology, derived from Greek “phantasia” (to make visible), fantasy literature
nowadays can be given divergent genre characteristics. One should keep in mind
from the beginning that "there is still not only a single opinion on the definition of the
term" fantasy", but also what exactly is fantasy: a genre form of the novel, a literary
genre or a separate literary direction" [21, p. 324]. T. Savytska who has long studied
the formation of fantasy as a global genre came to the following conclusion: “Having
deep roots in the mythological, folklore and literary traditions of different times and
peoples, fantasy as a genre of modern literature is formed in the early XX century,
and as such is clearly understood by literary critics from the late 1920s, when the fa-
mous American critic H. Gernsbeck, the author of the term "fantasy" in articles of
1926-1928, clearly distinguishes it from science fiction, which he called "science fic-
tion". Before its birth and implementation, there were other concepts: "scientific" and
"fantastic" (as their novels called J. Verne and G. Wells). J. Perelman combined both
concepts into one "science fiction" in 1914, adding it as a subtitle to his story "Break-
fast in a weightless kitchen" [32]. Sh. Egoff also states that “fantasy is a new literary
genre” [ ,c.134],

Fantasy is defined also as “the literature of imagination, the specific form of

the image makes it possible to analyze key life problems and misunderstandings
without limiting oneself to size and space. That is, the literature of fantasy, like any
kind of myth, is a certain response of humanity to current situations that require re-
search and certain changes"[31]. On the other hand, it is also emphasized that fantasy
is not just a literary genre, but also a literary direction: “Fantasy is a direction in lit-
erature, cinema, computer games, etc., which includes elements of various genres,
the heroes of which exist in a conditional social and natural environment created by
the author's imaginary "secondary world" [43, p.1939]. A. Swinfen proves that fan-
tasy is “the interpretation of a real world” [ , c.113]. T. Riazantseva is inclined to de-
fine fantasy as “not a genre, but meta-genre” as “it embraces different genres, layers
of creativity and displays it not only in literature, but in art, music” [ ].

Modern scholars having come to particular coclusions in fantasy problems,

some new issues arise before fantasy community. Recently, the among scholars of
fantasy community was spread the idea of fantasy as about a demiurgic genre [ ], "a
supra-genre formation that goes beyond literature, which is characterized by a variety
of their own genres and connection with the culture of their time" [31]. It is also more
frequently characterized as an "intermediate genre" [11] or an intertextual genre [24].

At present, it is also worth much speaking about some new approaches and us-
age of terms in fantasy literary studies. In particular, the increasing usage of the so-
called white knowledge, the term initiated by T. Pratchett in 1997, and meant a set of
ideas, images, facts, the source of which is difficult to establish. According to O.
Stuzhuk, in the works of fantasy the integration of religious, literary (magical) and
scientific (metaphysical) ideas is usually presented [ ]. In the works of this genre,
Good and Evil as the axiological dominant is usually presented (O. Filonenko [ ]),
etc.

Thus, fantasy is a marvelously extraordinary genre formation, which emerged

and formed in the first half of XX century. One can’t help disagreeing with O. Mon-
akhov, who, indeed, derived the formula for the genesis of fantasy genre. The scholar
writes: "Its formation was to some extent influenced by such literary factors as
mythology, folklore, heroic, chivalrous, gothic novels, adventure literature, works of
classical Russian literature and, of course, fiction, including science" [ ]. The pres-
ence of the representative theoretical basis of the roots and definitial-terminological
features of fantasy genre represents the firm ground for speaking about the specifics
of its genre nature.

Because of probably this factor (myth and fairy tale as seemingly preliminary
sources) until 1969 the term "fantasy" was applied only to children's literature. This
fact once again serves as a proof that it has repeatedly been perceived rather
frivolously as that free from serious content and social problems. Radical changes in
the attitude to fantasy genre appeared after the huge popularity of J. Tolkien’s work,
which happened in the United States in the 1970s and captured the world. The im-
mortal masterpiece "The Lord of the Rings" for the first time combined the mytho-
logical system and the author's vision of modern life. Followers of this literary tradi-
tion borrowed from the author of the trilogy various aspects of his creative method -
style and issues (from the United States - W. Le Guin, R. Zheliazny, R. Jordan, T.
Williams, from Russia - M. Perumov, from Ukraine - brothers Avramenkos, etc).
Tolkien not only suggested to the readers an unusual story, but also inspired writers to
be active in this sphere, and, of course, stimulated research concerning poetical as-
pects of his trilogy.

As it was mentioned, the main genre feature of fantasy is its eclectic nature or
syncretism, i.e the ability to mix various elements within a text canvas. In the "newly-
born" text, there is a tendency to intentional combinability of the elements from dif-
ferent genre systems in order to obtain a completely new fictional and textual phe-
nomenon.

In this regard, the interest represents not only the author's choice of sources,
but also the mechanism of their interaction in the text of a fantasy piece of prose.
These factors influence the emergence of different genre types of fantasy. The hetero-
geneity of the genre model in the unique world of fantasy gives the researcher the
possibility to conclude of diverse characteristics and types of this genre. However, to
begin with, it is worth remarking that "the classification of fantasy must be thor-
oughly revised and constantly updated as writers every day create new, original
worlds and ways to reflect them in their works" [38]. Nonetheless, in modern literary
studies, there are various approaches to the classification of the fantasy genre: prob-
lem-thematic, genre-stylistic, chronological, due to the new subgenres.

According to "the problem-thematic principle" (initiated by O. Kovtun), fan-

tasies are divided into:

- Mystical and philosophical, in which reality acts as a complex and multidi-

mensional concept of being, which absorbs, in addition to the usual, also hidden "su-
pernatural" layers, which are available only to the chosen ones;

- Metaphorical, which embodies the author's dream of the ideal, reflects the ro-
mantically elated perception of the "real", e.i., truly human, moral aspects in life;
 - "Terrible" or "black": "true reality" here interferes with everyday life in its
sinister and inaccessible forms to the understanding of mere mortal form. For the
hero, the world seemed strong and simple, but it is only a thin shell that hides a huge
abyss;

- Heroic or "Sword and Magic". This is the most numerous and most popular
type of fantasy, which is often considered canonical. For it, the world vision is not
important, it is enough that the world where the hero lives was different from the or-
dinary. To create such a world, the author uses a variety of techniques: sword fights,
ideas of scientific progress, parallel worlds, the life of the Middle Ages, the distant
future [det. see: 15, p. 327].

According to the genre-stylistic division, O. Bondina distinguishes two types of

fantasy: high and low. "High fantasy is that which includes works in which the reader
is presented with completely fictional worlds, and low fantasy - works in which the
supernatural is transferred to our reality" [3, p. 136].

Due to the chronological approach, fantasy is divided into classical or highly

epic and historical. The bright example of classical fantasy is the novel "The Lord of
the Rings" by J. Tolkien. In works of such type, events take place in the distant and
irreal past, or in a parallel world. The events of historical fantasy occur on the back-
ground of the past, real and historical. This subgenre is characteristic of the so-called
Slavic fantasy, where the action takes place during the times of Kyiv Rus or the Cos-
sacks.

Some scholars also single out the third group, namely "science fantasy" where
elements of science fiction are combined with a fairy-tale-mythological tradition. Yu.
Kagarlytskyi describes "scientific fantasy" as follows: "It penetrates into science fic-
tion when it is not the event itself that is important, but its consequences, so it does
not matter what caused it - a miracle or scientific progress. However, such a plexus of
fantasy and fiction is not always exhaustive and modern fantasy writers can combine
elements of both genres, using them not only as a narrative instrument, but also as a
structural element of the work" [13, p. 172]. For example, in the novel series of the
modern Ukrainian writer M. Muliar "Game" fiction and fantasy are very unexpect-
edly correlated, they exist as if in parallel world, penetrating each other only in sepa-
rate elements. The writer uses both fantasy and fiction not only to cause interest the
reader, but also to describe the realities of the world she created. The writer skillfully
combines elements of fantasy, science fiction and creates her own unique universe.

Among the new subgenres, romantic, humorous, occult, ethical and sacred fan-
tasy are singled out. Humorous fantasy is becoming very popular and often consists
of large number of works from one cycle. The most popular and most successful rep-
resentatives of this subgenre are, at least, the cycle of satirical fantasy "Discworld" by
T. Pratchett and "Mythical cycle" by R.L. Asprina. Sacred fantasy can be called new
enough, where the work is based not on magic, but on mysticism, communication
with the afterlife. But, at the same time, “for the most part, one work may belong to
different subgenres of fantasy, according to different classifications, or may not be-
long to any. Each author can name the genre of his work or create a new one” [3, p.
137].

Undoubtedly, different types and subgenres of fantasy have their own charac-
teristics that distinguish them, but all of them contain some key common features of
this genre. As it is taken for granted nowadays, all features that now consider to be
the key ones for inheritance by modern writers of fantasy were used firstly by J.
Tolkien in his outstanding trilogy “The Lord of Rings”.

1.2. J. Tolkien’s novel as a fantasy-canon-text

The XXth century is the epoch of the total fantasy development. But, taking
into account that for a long period of time in terms of “the fantastic” and “fantasy”
the distinct boundaries were absent, they were explained descriptively, often synony-
mously and ambiguously, one should remind that, despite this scientific gap, many
earlier fictional works, which are not now characterized as fantasy ones, already had
these both elements in their content structure. One should necessary mention in this
regard W. Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” where the playwriter de-
picted an imaginary world of fairies, J. Swift in his “Gulliver’s Travels”, a visious
satire consisting of four parts - each of them has its own fantasy world, and, as Sh.
Egoff states “children were, after all, familiar with dwarves and giants” [ c. ]. The
Gothic romances of Mary Shelly also demonstrate some fantastic elements, L. Carroll
was in much influenced by fairy tales in his creating Alice’s adventures, and filled
them finally with magic. The last century was known as the stories of the English
writer E. Nesbit (“A book of Dragon”, 1900, “Five children and It”, 1902, “The
Phoenix and the Carpet”, 1904, “The Story of the Amulet”, 1906). She laid out the
ground rules for the usage of magic in fantasy literature, she wrote about the collision
of the magical and the ordinary, about what would happen when magic penetrated
into a child’s everyday life. The science fiction of H.G. Wells as well as G.Lovecraft
and R.Howard also contained many elements of the type in their fiction.

The middle of XX th century can be named the time fantasy came of age, with
J. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”, and followed by his famous trilogy in 1954. It was the be-
ginning of the Golden Age of fantasy genre during 1950s-1960s as C. Lewis’ “Chron-
icles of Narnia” and Ursula le Guin’s “Earthsea” appeared. As M. Allen asserts, in
these novels, it was “clear identity for the fantasy genre” [ , c.2], and since that time,
during the second half of the century, fantasy became more sophisticated, affected by
modern sciences and technologies, new theories of universe origins, etc. Fantasy text
effectively realizes “the new” in the specific forms of supernatural proceeding, time-
shifts, the history of otherworlds. Many glorious personalities and their famous fic-
tional examples are well-known to the world contemporary readers (T. Pratchett, N.
Gaiman, J. Rowling, etc.), as they succesfully managed to combine their older col-
leagues’ experience, progressive ideas in many spheres of life, and their own consid-
erations.

At the turn of the XX - XXI centuries, fantasy occupies an increasingly stable

position among the other literary production, due to many factors. Each author's work
is thought as extremely heterogenous piece of prose because the inventions of its cre-
ator are not limited, the interpenetration of different literary genres are clearly ob-
served, and they are created on the junction of the traditional and personal principles
of how to create a fantasy-text.

It goes without saying, all fantasy works have been written for the last century,
but none of them has gained such popularity in the middle of the XXth century as the
trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" by John Tolkien (1892-1973), and which continue
taking its leading position among the best novels of all times. Its author is recognized
the founder or “the father” of not only the English, but also of the world fantasy
model.

Actually, J. Tolkien’s contribution into the genesis and development of fantasy

genre can’t by ever underestimated, and presently, it is well-known that hundreds of
research papers have been written since trilogy appeared, dealing with specific poeti-
cal nature of the novel, moreover, this book was succesfully filmed. Here is even
tolkien-discourse or tolkien-studies was formed within literary studies, and those
scholars appeared, who devote their research to his personality and fantasy heritage
only (tolkien scholars). Also, needless to say that quantity of research issue is so nu-
merous that now in many times more in volume than “The Lord of Rings” itself. So,
the problem of literary sources, narrative strategies, characters, genre peculiarities,
comparative items raised in the novel are dependless of time, and today they are basi-
cally in the disposal of the scholars who at present start studying the specifics of fan-
tasy genre. Among issues, which evoke constant academic research is J. Tolkien’s
canonical fantasy-text: it systematically occurs in the context of the scholars’ interest
when inheritance of the Master’s traditions is spoken about.

Before a modern scholar of fantasy, there is a really difficult challenge to real-

ize this task. The matter is, Tolkien himself said no single word of fantasy in that very
sense we use it now, never called his trilogy “a piece of fantasy”, and never used the
phrase “fantasy canon”. But, first and formost for researchers is his “On Fairy Sto-
ries” (1947), essay, which are nowadays is called by M. Vike “the fundamental con-
tribution into genre fantasy [ c.18], by M. Stableford “the fundamental document on
modern fantasy theory” [ c. 14], in particular. Therefore, now this essay (especially,
its chapter “Fantasy”), added by the text of his novel itself is universally acknowl-
edged as the academic manifest and unuttered instruction of how to write a fantasy
text for some generations of after-Tolkien fantasy authors.

Over time, however, the development of fantasy genre got the state when many
other, besides Tolkien’s, texts were born, and gradually, the question arose about the
canon-text for modern fantasy fiction. It means, that modern fantasy writers may
transform the rules of the greate English writer in creating his fictional fantasy world,
or, even more, to reduce them, to enlarge, to generally modify, due their wishes, and,
finally, not to use it at all, to form instead their own principles of writing a fantasy
text. So, logically, the question of text-canon after more than fifty years of after -tri-
logical indisputable influence became actual.

In great number of literary studies, meanwhile, there is no strict well-defined

formula of the so-called Tolkien’s textual canon to follow, but within this article un-
der canon we’ll mean the set of characteristics typical of this author in his famous
novel and later followed by future writers of fantasy. Perfectly keeping in mind the
situation above described, we’ll take into account J. Tolkien’s points, the poetical,
genre and stylistic peculiarities of his novel, and with the help of them we’ll make a
trying to grasp the main components of Tolkien’s canonical text, and come to under-
standing what generally fantasy text can now consider canonical, or built on the ex-
ample of the great writer.

“The Lord of the Rings” is unanimously considered a classic example of

heroic, epic fantasy. The book describes the otherworld of Middle-earth is approach-
ing to be declined due to the actions of Sauron, the Dark Lord. The feeling of injus-
tice in the world requires a speedy healing, and this is the purpose of the search for
which the heroes start going. The portal quest is characterized by the fact that the
characters (in this case, hobbits) move from a familiar world to an unfamiliar one and
learn about this unfamiliar world mainly through undisputable explanations of the
figure-mentor (the magician Gandalf). In the course of this search, the heroes achieve
recognition, awareness of their role in the history of the world and, finally, reach the
happy ending.

Thus, the first characteristic and obligatory feature of fantasy text is the exis-
tence of a secondary world (separate, autonomous, fantasy, alternative, imaginary,
sub-world, real-irreal, otherworld), which expands the imagination of writers and
readers. However, such world also has its rules and logic of its development. The au-
thor must himself believe in the real existence of his secondary world, otherwise it
will remain to live only in his imagination. Surprisingly relevant in this regard is J.
Tolkien’s statement: “Anyone inheriting the fantastic device of human language can
say the green sun. Many can then imagine picture it. But not enough... To make a
Secondary World inside which the green sun will be credible, commanding Sec-
ondary Belief, will probably require labour and thought, and will certainly demand a
special skill” [ ]. Tolkien explains that the green sun was as natural for it as the yel-
low sun for our world, as well as violet shadows will fall on the new earth, but the
main writer’s task is not only to believe himself, but to make the reader to believe in
the fictional world, ignoring the impossibility of the existence of the green sun and
violet shadows. “Such a persistent belief in the non-existent makes others believe”
[ ].

Surely, there is also real world in fantasy text, familiar and resembled by the
readers, and there is a boundary between these worlds because there are unknown
magical forces from parallel worlds exist in in, in addition to the real things. An ex-
ample of the similar situation described by J.Rowling in one of her interviews where
she spoke about her suffering when she "killed" one of the heroes of her work as she
could not behave otherwise. Here is, evidently, the axiom that the secondary worlds
begin to exist independently, according to their own laws, and even their own authors
are unable to prevent its condition. Thus, in fantasy text there is so tightly interlaced
the real and irreal worlds that readers even can’t guess the distinct boundaries of
them, and, frankly, they no need to do it as in this feature is a core attraction of fan-
tasy fiction.
 Indisputably, Tolkien's greatest achievement is the assertion of the idea of a
secondary world, but, although he retains the allusion that the events in “The Lord of
the Rings” take place in the prehistory of our own world, this idea is not supported,
and in all aspects of the Middle Ages is a separate creation that exists completely out-
side the world of our experience. This heritage has become standard and common-
place in modern fantasy. As a result, future writers of this genre avoided explaining
their worlds, which were previously designed as dreams or stories of travelers.

The writer, moreover, has done a great creative work on structuring the sec-
ondary world of Middle-earth. One of the main tasks of the author was to recreate the
vast historical and cultural heritage of the Middle Ages. "The Lord of the Rings" was
provided with maps and applications, but they also appeared after almost forty-year-
work to purposely create the ground or proof of a “seemingly real” sub-world, that
preceded the events of the trilogy. The author depicted the total fantasy world as com-
plex and full of intriguing moments, and therefore as believable as our own. He was
able to create this secondary world so true-to-fact that it even was followed by the
birth of the above mentioned term “fantasy belief”, which means that a reader per-
fectly knows that the events are made up, but completely he doesn’t have any doubt
that it is non-real.

One should necessarily add that real and irreal worlds in Tolkien’s novel is next
to each other, very close located, for a reader, consequently, no need to transfer in his
thoughts toe and froe. The signs of both - real and irreal worlds - coexist very tightly,
which is also calculated for effect not to lose a recipients’ attention while reading, not
to stop to be involved into the plot of the story. The existence of secondary world is
the core feature that differs fantasy from a fairy tale and fantastic literature. Other-
world on “The Lord of the Rings” is created with the help of different myths, chival-
rous novel, heroes and creatures who serve as the so-called guide between real and
non-real world. In “Epilogue” J. Tolkien wrote: “Probably every writer making of
secondary world, a fantasy, every sub-creator, wishes in some measure to be a real
maker, or hopes that he is drawing on reality: hopes that the peculiar quality of this
secondary world (if not all the detail) are derived from Reality, or are flowing into it.
If he indeed achieves a quality that can fairly be described bey the dictionary defini-
tion “inner consistency of reality”, it is difficult to conceive how this can be, if the
work does not in some way partake of reality” [ c.34]. Actually, the Otherworld ap-
pears on the junction of primary and imaginary worlds. So, the action of trilogy takes
place in the middle-aged time (which is real historic period of time), but in Middle-
earth (the country never existed, only in its creator’s imagination); next to real peo-
ple there are many images function that are made by the author’s fictional thinking.

Admitting some synonymous meanings of “fancy”, “fantastic”, “fairy”, J.

Tolkien is convinced that magic is the primary condition of creating the Secondary
World. To his mind, magic helps to remake it from the primary world, that’s why in
the novel, there are many attributes of the magic. One should notice that Tolkien’s
magic is primarily no good and no bad, it becomes to obtain such characteristics de-
pending on who uses it. Gandalf’s magic, consequently, is of white nature, as well as
Aragorn’s in his recovering Pharamir, etc.

J.Tolkien wants to persuade us that his novel is about far times, but raises
modern problems and depict very contemporary and familiar characters. He also re-
sumes that “magic is the set of the certain devices, it’s aim is power” [ ]. The power
to create magic some images from the novel have, for instance, magicians (Gandalf,
Saruman), deathless elves, dragons, dwarves, whereas hobbits and people can’t create
magic directly, and they used special magic subjects - stones, sticks, ringwraiths,
mechanisms, hidden letter, etc., and, naturally, the Ring, obtaining the dominant
magic strength. Tolkien used many magical actions, descriptions of how magic acts,
and this fairy-like sign helps the reader to perceive the story as that is created in the
real-irreal world. Moreover, some characteristics of the same image or thing is writ-
ten on the the turn from the real to irreal, its changeable, and this feature also is capa -
ble to make readers not to doubt in the existence of the “real” Secondary World.

Magic is an element, relating closely to a fairy-tale and to fantasy, at the same

time. But, here, one can’t help mentioning, that the very first person who started re-
searching fantasy was J. Tolkien himself. He said that fairy tales should take their
magic, seriously. The writer denied that fairy tales should be addressed only to chil-
dren. He believed that it diminished the essence of a fairy tale, a position that it needs
a trusting child with a lack of experience because the wonders of the fairy tale should
be appreciated. God created the Primary World, but in such “fantasy, as it is called,
“Man becomes as "sub-creator" [63, p. 65]. Tolkien claims that one touchstone of the
authentic fairy-tale is that it is presented as wholly credible: “It is at any rate essential
to a genuine fairy-story, as distinct from the employment of this form for lesser or de-
based purposes, that it should be presented as “true”. ... But since the fairy-story deals
with “marvels”, it cannot tolerate any frame or machinery suggesting that the whole
framework in which they occur is a figment or illusion” [ c. ]. Tolkien did his best to
create his Secondary World from Primary Reality, as he brought the reader out of
time and real location, but paradoxically, his Otherworld in the future trilogy resem-
bles everything which is nowhere and everywhere at the same period of time, but typ-
ical of a fairy-story everybody believes in his fictional “truth”.

Being at a loss in defining a fairy-tale, stating that it is of “indescribable,

though not imperceptible”, he remarks that “fairy tale is one which touches on or uses
Fairie, whatever its main purpose may be: satire, adventure, morality, fantasy. It may
be translated by Magic - “but it is magic of a peculiar mood and power, at the furthest
pole from the vulgar devices of the laborious, scientific, magician” [ ]. Tolkien sug-
gested that there are four main elements of a fairy tale, which are typical for a fan-
tasy, also: Fantasy, Recovery, Escape and Consolation. Fantasy was the result of sub-
creation: the creation of something that does not exist in our world, but that has a se -
quence of reality. “Fantasy (in this sense) is, I think, not the lowest, but the highest
form of art, moreover, the purest form and (when achieved) the strongest” [69, p. 45].
Fantasy, he continues, strives for magic. “Magic creates a secondary world that can
enter both the artist and the viewer, satisfying their feelings while they are inside; but
in its purity it is artistic in its desire and purpose "[69, p. 49]. Fantasy brings us re-
covery: cleaning our eyes so that we can see our world more clearly. "Fantasy gives
us salvation: not escapism in a contemptuous sense, which is an escape from a de-
serter, but a mental escape from the mutilation and evil around us. And finally, fan-
tasy brings us consolation, first of all consolation of a happy ending: Eucatastrophe”
[63, p. 66]. Thus, fantasy otherworld created with the help of magic as an obligatory
condition from Tolkien goes through all these elements, and compositionally some
plot moves, as well as the usage of magic components in his trilogy are taken from a
fairy-story. With the help of magic from a fairy-tale Tolkien managed to create his
Otherworld on the base of the Primary world.

The second significant point of fantasy text is the motive of the trip, which of-
ten acquires the characteristics of a quest with various and frequently dangerous ad-
ventures and events. Totally, all characters from J. Tolkien’s novels are described in
the process of their moving from place to place (due to Arthurian traditions, “Be-
owulf” influence, and a middle-aged chivalrous novel traditions). The motive of the
trip gives the author possibility to depict the heroes-travelers in dynamics. The mo-
tive of trip is capable to describe the above-mentioned secondary world in details,
with all particular accessories, to raise numerous problems, to suggest variants of
their solutions. From the part of the readers, such compositional device is rather at-
tractive and appropriate to maintain their interest in the process of reading.

The books of fantasy authorized by J. Tolkien represent an extensive specific

system of images (real people and creatures of different origin), that help the protago-
nist to find his alter ego, and which also denote the real things of the imaginary
world. It was enumerated that the system of images in Tolkien’s fantasy-text contains
gods, magicians, an epic hero and his team, ordinary people, dark and light forces,
magicians, demon spirits. The main character goes through challenges, subject to the
changes in the plot development, he lives on the junction of real and non-real worlds,
according to the author’s ideas. In addition, one shouldn’t forget about magical per-
sonification of some natural items in Tolkien’s creating a secondary world (speaking
trees as a bright example) play an important role in Tolkien’s works of fantasy. Due
to the influence of mythology, various creatures also become active participants of
the stories, such as orks, giants, trolls, dragons, elves, etc. It is also should be re-
marked that these creatures were introduced by the author modified depending on his
concept.

To generalize the idea of Tolkien’s typical images, one can’t lose out of sight
Ye. Kanchura’s conclusions about several traditional fantasy images and motives:
"The motive of the border (portal, border, boundary conditions as a situation of possi-
ble choice), the motive of dream as a possibility of transition to dream as true reality,
mirror (border between worlds, movement in search of the beginning "from itself and
to itself"), mask (carnival inversion, freedom in choosing a role, face, creature with-
out a face, figure in a dark hood), theater (curtain as the boundary of two spaces, role,
makeup, costume), game. The images of the mask and the mirror are associated with
a common fantasy image of a double (or, alternatively, a shadow), which has a sym-
bolic load for the path of spiritual search for the hero" [22, p.51].

J. Tolkien’s professional life is firmly associated with teaching at Oxford Uni-

versity. There he became a professional linguist-medievalist, and worked throughout
his life before retiring in 1959. Tolkien was fascinated by ancient languages, as well
as how language displays the way of medieval people’s thinking.

The roots of this interest are in childhood because even in those years Tolkien
had a very unusual hobby: he was engaged in inventing new languages. As a creator,
later he wrote to his American publishers that for all his works he drew inspiration
from linguistics, and the invention of language, in his opinion, was the basis of a new
history. He noted that stories were created to describe the world for a new language,
not on the contrary. At school, he studied Gothic, Welsh and Finnish, but in his ma-
ture years he went on studying the invented languages. This is probably where the
unique languages spoken by the characters in Tolkien's fantasy novels come from.

His incomparable merit is the birth of ABC, Grammar and at least fifteen Elfic
languages - Quenia, Sindarin, Avarin, Telerin, etc. The language made up by Tolkien
is the mixture of English, Dutch, French, Latin, Spanish. This feature is a bright argu-
ment to describe “the part of Tolkien’s creative process” as a writer [ Colbert ]. One
can run risks of admitting that the invention of the language is the second greatest (af-
ter secondary world) achievement of this English writer and linguist. It helps to orga-
nize the truthful decor for imaginary world, to make readers to one more time believe
in the reality of an invented universe and images who are spoken it. By the way,
Tolkien himself called “The Lord of the Rings” “the essay on the linguistic aesthet-
ics”, and concentrating on the last word, one should pay more attention to the Elfish
language as to the cultural achievement, but only linguistic one.

Both, scholars and writers should obligatory tell about the role and place of
myths in J. Tolkien’s novel. The author, they say, worried about the absence of anglo-
saxon myths in his native country as Welsh legend about King Arthur’s adventures,
he doesn’t consider English one, though was inspired by it. Logically, he decided to
make use of Greek, Indian, Scandinavian, and in much rate took the material from
these mythical systems. First of all, is two “Edda”, as a place of inhabitance for
trolls, elves and dwarves, dark strength, its struggle against white. The author of the
novel combined legends of scandinavians and celts, but often gave them Irish feature,
so it is a new approach. It comes out, consequently, that King Arthur resembles
Aragorn, they both had to prove their right to be crowned, to save the kingdom from
the ruin, adore and serve to the Dame of their heart. Hobbits are served to support the
idea of saving a world, and this word was borrowed by the writer from norwich leg-
ends and celt ancient stories, but they are of mixed character in his work.

The image of the Ring is also worthy explaining. Between the Ring from
Tolkien’s novel and that of Nibelung Saga is the difference, as for the English novel it
is viewed as a burden for a knight, magic, strength, though, having some fairy-tale
features, it’s less positive, it more symbolizes evil. The voice of Finnish myth “Kale-
vale” is found in some characters, as well in the language, serving for Tolkien’s he-
roes’ communication. Even Bible sources can be found in his triology, namely, the
reminicsences of the lost kingdom Numenor, The Great Flood, temptation to get
power and knowledge, in particular, Frodo resembles Christ when he defeated the
Ring and saved the Middle-earth when removed the curse. Aragorn and Gandalf also
have some features of Christ, etc.
 Naturally, myth as a genre source of the novel very frequently became in the
focus of the scholars’ attention. In particular, H. Carpenter resumed that “Tolkien cre-
ated his personal mythology, and on its base he create different stories” [ c. 21]. M.
Shteiman added that Tolkien “not only reconstruct myths or interpret them in some
way. ... The author, on the contrary, aims for play with a myth, creating new mythol-
ogy on the base of really existing myths, and simultaneously for play with a reader
coding hints and references to them” [ c. 75]. One can hardly call myth as first and
foremost sign of fantasy-text, very vividly used by modern writers, but they are
hinted hugely, implicitly realized on the different poetical levels of a fictional work.

J. Tolkien also contributed to the development of various compositional tech-

niques of the plot, which are commonly located later in other works of fantasy.
“These include a trip on a map of a fantasy country; escape (for example, Gandalf's
escape from Balrog, which Tolkien probably intended to use the allusion to the Res-
urrection of Christ); separation (when companions can have different adventures, go-
ing on different trips); temptation (which leads the drama to the confrontation of the
Good and the Evil); and walking (which means that the characters travel slowly
through the landscapes and have to solve problems, not to put them aside) "[63, p.
65].

J. Tolkien successfully proved in the trilogy that the stories of fantasy nature
can express real trues that were considered worthy of an adult audience both in the
Middle Ages and presently. The American medievalist N. Cantor claims that Tolkien
expressed three important truths in the “The Lord of the Rings”, which are still rele-
vant today. The writer portrayed the real fear caused by gangs of soldiers who looted
and often terrorized the countryside. The author described the problems faced by
these ordinary people, almost unarmed and, of course, not protected by trained sol-
diers when they travel through dangerous countryside. The writer showed us that not
only knights could be brave in the Middle Ages, but also ordinary people.

J.Tolkien, certainly, appreciated their courage. He once said that during the
World War I he saw much more courage of soldiers than of officers. In the trilogy, it
is the courage of a simple man described, a hobbit, that ultimately saves the world.
Tolkien also, of course, glorifies the courage of great men (such as Gandalf) and pro-
fessional warriors and leaders (such as Aragorn), not forgetting those who are not of
noble blood.

J. Tolkien, naturally, not only demonstrated in “The Lord of the Rings” his
deep knowledge of medieval literature, he honestly confessed that this literature was
of primary powerful genre source in content structuring of his novel. As he told in
1938 interview, of all the ancient texts that inspired him “Beowulf” is the most im-
portant source of inspiration. With “Beowulf” “The Lord of The Rings” is connected
by the item of the reception of Christian events, which happened to the heroes, living
far from Christianity period. By the way, his article “Beowulf: The Monsters and The
Critics” remains an unchangeable literary source for linguistic students, writers and
other literary persons. Professor of linguistics has changed the modern attitude of the
whole world to this story, and today “Beowulf” is an inherent basis for the whole
generation of fantasy writers.

J. Tolkien often sought inspiration for his stories and found it in old works by
various authors and in stories produced by his close friend and colleague Clive S.
Lewis. He was also greatly influenced by William Morris, whose words and expres-
sions, as well as the romantic creative approach Tolkien used in his reports and first
works. Since childhood, professor read the works of Andrew Lang, namely, “The
History of Sigurd”, which has its origins in ancient Scandinavian sagas. Interestingly,
the protagonist of this work used a sword for battles, in one of them it broke, so later
it was restorted again from the wreckage. Tolkien was inspired by this idea from
Lang’s work and implemented it in the sword of Aragorn. Here is the brightest exam-
ple of inheritance observed: modern writers borrow from Him, like He followed his
predecessors.

As usual, myths of different peoples, as well as chivalrous novel and fairy-tale

are associated in the reader’s imagination and conscience with the global philosophi-
cal problems, and the fantasy-text created by J. Tolkien is the very convenient plat-
form to pay the readers’ attention to them. Thus, typically, Tolkien singles out the
eternal problem - the struggle between the Good and the Evil, the center of which is a
person. Many subsequent moral problems are raised in the novel by the author, and
their solution is in the sphere of the questions above mentioned, and in denouement
of the plot the Good is always winner.

Thus, one is eligible here to make conclusion about the fantasy-canon produced
by J. Tolkin in the text of his novel “The Lord of the Rings”. The canonical fantasy
ingredients here are Secondary World, magic, invented language, mythology, particu-
lar motives, images, moral principles and philosophical problems. I. Maklakov who
supported the idea of Tolkien’s canon-text existence proved that it is really example
structure, “is not an ordinary mixture, but well-ordered system, in terms of which
borrowed elements and tendencies assimilated and changed. At the same time, the au-
thor more renew, review and recreate ancient traditions. He does it very skilfully,
that’s why, a canonical text was given birth by him, text, available to use as example”
[ ]. To be recognized as a fantasy text, it should contain mentioned above ingredi-
ents, or, at least, more of them. On the other hand, even super modern fantasy text is
very difficult to organize, without even subconscious following the key points, that’s
why, the authors are by no means use them and to their mind always modify Tolkien’s
canonical set.

One should take into consideration that at the end of the XX th century, the sci-
entific attitude towards this literary constant was subjected to some changes. At
present, problems in the sphere of tolkien-studies remained unchangeable - compari-
son, narration, content meaning are still actively disputed in Anglo-American critical
discourse. But the very notion “Tolkien’s canon-fantasy-text” underwent some trans-
formations.

Referring to the theme of this research, the special attention should be paid to
B. Attebery’s issue “Strategies on Fantasy”, where the scholar raises the problem of
the fantasy genre specific nature which is always actual. He defines fantasy as “the
form of popular literature of escapism that unite the same set of characters and means
- magicians, dragons, magic swords, etc. - the unexpected plot about extremely innu-
merous strength of kindness, which is cheering over monolithic evil” [ c.1]. He
rather unwillingly asserts this definition, meaning it is not appropriate, denies its ac-
tive usage, and prefers to it the notion of a “fuzzy set” (fiction of mixed nature), fan-
tasy-example-text for all other writers to create in this genre [c.12-13]. B. Attebery
clearly stated that “the work we recognize as fantasy tend to resemble “The Lord of
the Rings” in three more fundamental ways. One of them has to do with content, an-
other with structure, and the third with reader’s response” [ c. 14]. In his opinion,
there is the only genre example - “The Lord of Rings” by J. Tolkien, which in its
structure has above mentioned content, composition (fairy tale-like), and readers’ re-
action (Eucatastrophe). Attebery thinks the text having these features is a fantasy one
without any doubts.

But, over time, a disputable concern about the text-example appeared. As C.

Piven states, “on the turn of the XX-XXI centuries fantasy genre canon was enriched
with new names who are examples for later authors” [ c.305], and he calls the person-
alities of J. Martin, U. Le Guin, T. Pratchett, N. Gaiman, etc. The center of fantasy
canon is consequently changed, as modern writers are in front of the choice of whom
to inherit and follow while creating their fantasy secondary worlds, as not only
tolkien model, but more other possibilities and sources are available, too. So,
Tolkien’s stable canon was displaced by other examples of the type.

Especially, it has been lately obvious in national fantasy literatures which has
been developing since the 80s of the XXth century. The representatives of these liter-
atures produce their texts on languages different from English, and have more than
the only text-example to follow. It is interesting to deepen into fantasy fiction made
by not only modern Western-European, but Eastern-European writers to analyze what
kind of fantasy they create, what canons they structuralize, and what text-example
they use in their fantasy novels.

The popular Polish fantasy writer A. Sapkowskyi can be fairly called the con-
temporary writer who made an attempt in their own way to transform Tolkien's genre
canon. Their early novels "The Last Wish" (1986) viewed separately represent an in-
terest in the context of the development of national fantasy tradition, but taken in
comparative aspect, they are able to bring the opportunity to conclude about possible
variants of national modifications of Tolkien's canon of fantasy and to contribute to
the arrangement of a thorough picture of the world fantasy discourse.

SECTION II.

Andjei Sapkovskyi (born in 1948) is a great Polish writer whose main interest is
fantasy. Now he is not only the most popular and frequently printed author of Poland,
but also one of the acclaimed fantasy creator all over the world as his novel are issued
in more than twenty foreign languages. From his childhood, however, nothing was
forseen him to be the writer. He graduated from Lodz university, and up to 1994 he
worked in the sphere of international trading.
His biography as a writer began in 1986 when he decided to take part in the con-
test organized by the journal «Fantastyk’u». The future writer wrote it for his 13-
year-old son, but didn’t read himself, just looked through. He remembered his experi-
ence of the interpretator-amateur because some years ago this journal printed the
translation of «Guru’s Words», and he therefore was inspired by this success and was
working at translations from Zheliazny, Leiber, Oldiss. He was engaged in the contest
with a thought to take award, to thank, and to farewell, and to go on doing transla-
tions. It was in 1985 and the story «The Witcher». During the year nothing was heard
from the editors, and at the end of 1986 it became known that the story was printed.
That time «The Witcher» creator A. Sapkovskyi was nearly forty, and, judging
by his reminiscences, did not have any special plans for future connected with the
profession of the writer. It is enough to say that between this story and the next one
from this series three years past. Only after issuing the second story chosen by read-
ers as the best that year, Sapkovskyi got an impact to continue writing. As a result, in
1990 the first edition of «The Last Wish» appeared in the form the readers know it
now - seven stories united by the same idea and the image of the main hero Geralt.
Since that time many novels from this series have been published, he created a true
heroic saga about «The Witcher». It takes the 4th rate in Poland, is awarded with
Yanush Zaidel prize, the prize SFinks, and in 2010 the author was awarded with the
honourable prize of the European Community of scientific fiction Eurocon « Grand
Master». In 2016 he was awarded The World Fantasy Awards for everlife achieve-
ments.
For Polish literature, the name and creative heritage of this writer can’t hardly be
overestimated, already nowadays. His significance may be viewed in the following
aspects. Firstly, Sapkovskyi’s stories was very up-to-date in the Polish literature and
the very effective answer to the situation took place in the Polish fantastic literature in
80-90 of the last century, which was the platform if not politinized, but radically so-
cialized: themes. plots and the langauage itself were correspondent to the ideological
problems. But that very period is known as the end of the socialist epoch was the end
of these aesthetic model of literary development, as well as the structure of the reader
audience. On the place of the reader the fan appeared, and the function of the litera-
ture was become to entertain special groups of recipients. But here was a touchstone
as a result of ideological changes the number of fiction to relax people was not satis-
fied. Secondly, Polish readers faced enormous quantity of entertaining English scien-
tific fiction, and, indeed, for some time native Polish literature of this genre lacked of
the bright names, plots, titles densely contained the book market. And it seemed that
such situation the West standard wan once and forever, that Polish writer were not ca-
pable to contradict to their famous colleagues.
At that time the birth of Sapkovskyi-writer– «The Last Wish», «The Sword of
Destiny» – was perceived as something unusual as the author changed the situation,
After the issue of his stories, it was evident that Polish writers are quite rivalrous to
compete with their Western creators not formally, but in fact.
Secondly, it is not hyperbolic to state that A. Sapkovskyi created the very princi -
ple of writing Polish fantasy works, his own rules powerful to compete with other
writers. His novels were not simple written from the familiar and extraodinary popu-
lar in Poland personalities and themes from English fantasy. It came out that the us-
age of the native and national material – on the level of the plot moves, characters,
background – are quite resultative and is aimed at fulfilling the readers’ requirements.
Actually, Sapkovskyi clearly demonstrated that Polish fantasy is eligible and opportu-
nity to exist as the unique and original, but auxiliary literary product. By the way,
some critics are even inclined to think that after Sapkovskyi’s first stories appeared,
Tolkien’s or Howard’s plots or heroes fell out of fashion among Polish readers as
their national material became more native.
Thirdly, this author created the so-called stufage and particular language space to
be followed.
Nowadays, saga of the witcher Geralt contains five volumes. Besides, this au-
thor is a writer of «King Arthur’s World» where he tried to clarify the reasons of leg-
ends about King Arthur among contemporary readers, and their influence on some
XX century authors. His merit is a great number of critical articles on fantasy and for
those who are attracted by this genre, such as «The manual for the beginning writers
fantasy», «Pyrug, or No gold in the Great Mountains» (about modern problems of
fantasy genre). In 2000 Sapkovskyi published the very representative research on
mythical creatures «Bestiariusz», «Recopis znaleziony w Smoczej Jaskini», in which
he with a humor typical of him describe the world of creatures settling our universe,
and fantasy worlds.
He often gives interview where shares with readers his creative plans and secrets
of his poetical works. So he confessed that he adores reading and reads everything at
hand, and his writers’ examples are masters of the novel Senkevych, Holubiev and
Bunsha. He also affected by E. Hemingway, Chanler, Bulhakov and Umberto Eko.
He also highly appreciates his fantasy predecessors – S. Lem, Ph.Dick, J.Vense, and
among fantasy writers he likes J.Tolkien, U. Le Guin, R.Zheliazny, J. Vense.
At present, A. Sapkovskyi is very often called canon writer of fantasy, also. As
it was told earlier, J. Tolkien for much time was an example of how to write fantasy
fiction. Now, oftener J. Martin is also called who are «two pillars » [ ], and to copy
them as cliches for post-soviet people was of necessary character. His honorable
place between them A. Sapkovskyi takes, the third pillar. Since 1990, the year of
Ukrainian version of «The Witcher» his significance was akin to that of Tolkien’s,
and his novel turned to be indisputable authority. Thus, the Polish writer who started
as the supporter of Tolkien’s ideas in organizing fantasy poetics today is recognized
as the example himself.
These authors are considered to be the creators of specific laws to fantasy
genre. Tolkien’s example was much spoken about, it was the invention of the Sec-
ondary World, sharp division into white and black heroes; Sapkovskyi was good at
arranging aesthetic picture of the fictional world and in mechanisms of text-structure.
Under mentioned rules, one means postmodern entourage, the method of following
and digesting the material, reconsider the folklore meaning (particularly, fairy tales),
personages of ambivalent characteristics, linguistic peculiarities – are those features
made by A. Sapkovskyi to create his own fantasy-world – borrowed and to be bor-
rowed by the future writers.
The novel “The Last Wish” as the first from the saga created his particular fan -
tasy World of the Northen Kindoms in its many-centured history, religion and
mythology. Typically, there usual people live with elves, dragons, magicians. The
peoples of these countries are spoken different languages, i.e. the Elfish language.
The language of the scholars and nvestes, and that is spoken to age. But, at the same
time the author renders the atmosphere of the Mlddle-aged Poland, that why details
possible to recognize.
One can notice that everything is combined in the stories by A. Sapkovskyi.
The reader feels that it happens really, that the author does true-to- fact the latter to
believe. The action takes place in an imaginary world, but the problem is familiar to
them – as, bloody conflicts, etc. The author told: “Fantasy has thousands of defini-
tions, but created my own, de to watch fantasy as the etelnf a myth, fairy tale, leg-
ends, but not the fairy language” 37, Демчи. As Demchyk told one of the ways to
create a fantasy old is the text and text device. Here is represented with the help of
reminiscences, interpretations of the famous woks of the European and Polish folk-
lore. 104 The author plays with them, destructs them, intensifying the target of the
comic effect. “Easter eggs” – allusions and references to many tales. Sapkovsky
called it postmodern game. Modern scholars consider Sapkovskyi’s “Witcher” to be
postmodern fantasy, and they state it inclinates from the canons of epic fantasy as it
gives birth severe and natural branch, and because of it becomes closer to the histori-
cal novel. Often the author makes use the scenes of violation, terrors war, etc.
A distinguishing feature of “The Last Wish” is the canon consisting of the fol-
lowing ingredients: magic, history, adventure, poetics, philosophical considerations,
that is ended with lyrics and sarcasm. All these elements are arguments to state this
novel as the piece of fantasy postmodern elements 106 Demchyk.
Before analyzing Sapkovskyi’s genre characteristics, one should necessary pay
attention to the structure of “The Last Wish”, as this component is also has a particu-
lar arrangement. The matter is, the first fantasy novel was divided into parts, into 7
stories. Each of them has a particular tittle, heroes, plot and its composition. But they
are united by the figure of Geralt. Moreover, each of these stories are preceded be the
introductive passage, interludes. This character from Rivia is presented by the author
as the witcher with extraordinary physical abilities, psychic endurance and magic ca-
pacities, which he borrowed as a result of mutation ritual. From his childhood he was
given also the code of behavior due to which he tried not to take part in political in-
trigues of kings and magicians, but under circumstances he was involved in struggle
of the Northen kindoms against the southern empire Nilfgard. The very first story
starts with the injury of Geralt in battle and while he was resting in a temple, he re-
membered the recent events of his life. Each of his flashbacks form a particular story.
These stories chronologically are called “The Witcher”, “The Voice of reason”, “A
Grain of Truth”, “The Lesser Evil”, “A Question of Price”, “The Edge of the World”,
“The Last Wish”, “The Voice of Reason”. Owing to the wither Geralt image, this set
of stories is perceived as a novel telling about his adventures. Even judging by the ti-
tles of the stories, one can assume that not only Geralt’s lifeline it will be spoken
about by Sapkovskyi. Here the author also represents his philosophical conclusions.
“The Voice of the Reason” before the stories are to some extend announce the follow-
ing story, they are also united by the image of Nenneke, as she somehow correlates
his actions. But in “A Question of Price” here in the interlude Geralt tells Jola his his-
tory as a Witcher. And in the next story the author tells about Geralt’s and Dande-
lion’s discussion of how his profession is losing profitability in modern times. In
“The Last Wish” Geralt tells in talks to Nenneke about Yennefer. But all of them are
closely connected to the stories the introduce. One should admit that this feature dif-
fers Sapkovskyi’s novel from that produced by Tolkien, as the structure of The Eng-
lish writer’s novel does not maintain such characteristics.
Unlike structure, Sapkovskyi unanimously agree with Tolkien in the question of
the secondary world. The Polish author also constructs his particular world where all
actions of his novel take place. He created his own otherworld which exist simultane-
ously wherever and nowhere. Following Tolkien, Sapkovskyi also chose the times
before the Ice Period, The Middle Ages, and to make the readers believe that every-
thing was real, but imaginary. But the reader does not know exactly what time and
place the heroes live. Geralt’s adventures are believed to be real as the author used
many features testifying that they are real, but, in fact, the reader feels that they are
made up. Sapkovskyi wants us to believe in the fantasy reality by means of using au-
thentic details typical of middle-aged life. The number of them are helpful to the au-
thor. Among them should be called toponyms, naves of the characters, and geographi-
cal names. Also, one should mention different kind of descriptions similar to that of
middle-aged ones, but indeed, they are made up by the author’s imagination. By the
way, here is the map adding usually to his novel, which brightly illustrates the
witcher’s route, and also state for the fact that it is a fantasy fiction. The reader per-
fectly understands that the countries are irreal, but believes while reading that none-
theless they somewhere exist. Here is the great achievement of the Polish author and
the fact made him close to Tolkien in forming the core characteristic of a fantasy
prose. Sometimes, the effect is produced that the action takes place not in the times
mentioned, but much closer, thus special and temporal features of the story are typi-
cal of fantasy.
There are many fragments in “The Last Wish” that contains the signs of both –
real and non-real world and the time contemporary for the reader. (Example). Some
episodes, on the contrary, has vivid features of the ancient time and some of them re-
semble familiar places for recipients. (Examples).
Also, Sapkovskyi uses many additional special features, such as the descriptions
of armory, harness of the heroes, etc. (Example and comment).
One more very important element, which makes A. Sapkovskyi close to Tolkien
and is used as an argument to state that “The Last Wish” is a fantasy piece, is the lan-
guage of this story, should be separately spoken about. Like Tolkien, Sapkovskyi also
was interested in inventing languages, he created the Elder Language – is the lan-
guage for witchcraft, forecasts, names of cities where Geralt travels, etc. Sapkovskyi
is the unique author, like Tolkien, as he created is having combined Welsh, French,
Latin, Italian, English. But, comparing to Tolkien, Sapkovskyi doesn’t give any ex-
planation concerning how to read this language. On the contrary, he accentuated that
he made it to be grasped intuitively at least generally. He created the so-called Elfish
languages. In addition, he also used many obscene words, informal lexemes, to make
the reader feel that the action takes place near to them and the heroes are real when
they speak the same language they do.
Thus, the Otherworld created on the junction of the real and the irreal becomes to
correspond to the Tolkien’s will to be fantastic and at the same time possible to be be-
lieved by readers. There is no provider between these worlds, they are very tightly
located. But in the final story, there is a portal described by Sapkovskyi, – it resem-
bles K. Lewis and his novel “The Chronicles of Narnia”.
The main hero of the “The Last Wish” is Geralt from Rivia, though there are
many various characters in this Sapkovskyi’s novel. The image of this protagonist
Geralt is typical of fantasy fiction, as well as he is rather particular hero. Like all fan-
tasy images, he is given by magic capacities, namely he saved the world from mon-
sters. Unlike Tolkien’s heroes, Geralt, as scholars state, is not considered to be clearly
positive or negative, he is rathe mobile travelling from country to country and
demonstrating his different features of character. Here is Sapkovskyi’s unique ap-
proach to structuring his core images. So, it often happens in his “The Last Wish” that
at the beginning and at the end of the of the story Geralt is met by readers as the
wither who behaves story differently. Sometimes, it was noticed that in the process
of plot development Geralt is changing, firstly he was seen as a male hero with con-
trary moral qualities, thus. The reader is pity for him, or hate him. Finally, as usual,
Geralt is the person who suggest some philosophical sentences, thus the author com-
pletes the story with Geralt’s positive character.
To describe him, S. uses various ways. In some fragments of the novel Geralt
tells about himself, the whole story is devoted to it. (example). But, on most cases,
Geralt’s character unfolds through his actions and conversation with other heroes.
(Example)
Besides Geralt, there many other heroes of different quality. They are divided
into real and irreal as it is appropriate for fantasy fiction. One should remark that
each story of “The Last Wish” obtain different images, only some of them are re-
peated – Nenneke, Jola. There monster, mermaid, princess, Devil, Yennifer, etc. are
those heroes met in this novel. Each of them are closely connected with Geralt, de-
spite they are of different categories, with elves which also the heroes of this novel.
So, as is planned his Otherworld is dwelled with real and irreal creatures, it became
possible due to the authors fantasy measures of the genre. Again, Sapkovskyi com-
bines them so tightly that the reader can’t differentiate them while reading, each of
them act as real, as human beings. Here is also the arguments between Geralt and the
key characters<some of then they are in friendly ways.
In this respect, one should pay special attention to Sapkovskyi’s book “Bestiar-
iusz” where he represented the set of all creatures used by him in “The Witcher” se-
ries and in his other novels. All these characters one more time testify about the exis-
tence of the Otherworld where true and made up heroes may function. But, the author
also demonstrated his novation, because using creatures well-known for readers
thanks to the European folklore, fantasy traditions, but he modified them, namely,
kikimora resembles more spimster and crocodile, than an old woman we’ve got ac-
customed to read in fairy-tales. Among the most popular, frequently used and familiar
to recipients are dragon, werewolf, troll, mermaid, wood goblin, vampire, dwarf, for-
est nymph, salamander, Jeen, witch, and many others (example to describe). All of
them act like in the myths they were taken from by Sapkovskyi, but at the same time,
they have changes, when communicate to Geralt. Here the author resembles Tolkien
as they both involve into the text real, irreal, mythical.
Together with the English author in his trilogy, despite less volume, Sapkovskyi
also uses typical of fantasy world program components – magic phenomena, actions,
subjects, etc. Here he also changed his view as for using then in the fantasy text as he
added some capacities to them, for example, lilac symbolizes love. Also, one should
be told that some of these flora authentic details are made up by the author, the names
and its quality typical of a constituent of fantasy fiction. (example).
Thus, having analyzed Sapkovskyi’s personage system, one can conclude that It
is very heterogenous as real people, made up and mythical creatures coexist within
his secondary world, as well as in Tolkien’s novel.
In structuring genre, Sapkovskyi behaves different comparing to Tolkien’s “The
Lord of Rings”. For the English author, it was principal to combine multiple genre
streams, but dominance was given by them to different roots. Whereas for Tolkien’s it
was mythological system of the European territories, for Sapkovskyi myth was of
ground significance, it was not that factor which organized the whole plot of his sto-
ries from “The Last Wish”. It would be better to state that some motives, composition
components, the so-called stuffage, giving the reader opportunity to believe that the
action took place in the Middle Ages, etc. are those resembling Tolkien’s genre sys-
tem. Sapkovskyi also makes use of mythology, but it refers more to Slavian and oth-
ers. But, we’ll assume that priority in forming genre in “The Last Wish” is that of
fairy-tale. Firstly, composition of the stories of this novel is typical of a fairy-tale, as
it always has a happy end, the action is also completed at the end of denouement, so it
is done due to Tolkien’s Eutocatastrophe. But the motif of travelling, typical of
Tolkien’s heroes, is also hugely used by Sapkovskyi. But, here is the difference that
in “The Lord of Rings” there are many heroes are searching for a ring, they are mov-
ing in time of plot development, here in Sapkovskyi’s novel the only hero is dynamic,
which resembles in much some myth (Beowolf), where the only hero is active. Ex-
position here is also fairy-tale-like, climax is the same, but here one is necessary to
speak about the battles fundemantal, they are described in Tolkien’s manner by Sap-
kovskyi. They are presented in all the stories, they are written with the help of the so-
called middle-aged flavor – armory, strategy of the battles, documentary truthful,
bloody descriptions volumizing, it is like in Tolkien’s trilogy done. (example) In com-
parison with a fairy-tale, the final of these battles is not always happy or as it was
planned at the beginning, but the hero always subjects to changes, unlike Tolkien’s, as
his heroes are from the very start are colored black or white. In such fragments of
“The Last Wish” it perfectly seems the powerful influence of mythical tradition bor-
rowed by Sapkovskyi from Tolkien’s novel.
But, at the same time, this Sapkovskyi’s novel is deeply rooted in other folklore
traditions. All scholars and readers unanimously state that here the author in much
makes use of different from west European myths, he also takes fairy-tales produced
in Slav countries. So, one can’t help noticing that in the “Witcher” here is the active
interlacement of “The Sleeping Beauty” (“The Item of Truth”), “Snow White” and
“Seven Dwarfs” in “The Less Evil”, In “The Question of Price” in “Rumtelstiltsen”,
German fairy-tale, translated be The Grimm Brothers in 1857, 1001 nights is also
borrowed from the author from Muslem mythology. (example)
Despite Sapkovskyi’s hamonizaton with Tolkien in many fantasy items, there are
some essential issues which differ them. These are Sapkovskyi’s innovations in form-
ing his own cannon and at the same time his modification of Tolkien’s canonical text.
For the first turn one should call here Sapkovvskyi’s humor. There many textual
episode where the author represents his humoristic comments, or, oftener, he trans-
forms genre ingredients, as a result of which some laughter is caused. His laughter is
sometimes of situative character, sometimes it appears via special linguistic means.
(examples). It is worthy saying that non rarely Sapkovskyi creates similar situations
adding some erotic motives, they are given by the author to supply the story of the so-
called modernized filling, it makes the heroes closer to readers, it to some rate mod-
ernizes the place and the time of the action. The matter is, the heroes laugh at issues
familiar more to modern recipients, and when they utter their jokes, it seems that they
are our contemporaries, but people of the Middle Age. (Example) In many cases Sap-
kovskyi uses informal and obscene, they pretend to be understood by the correspond-
ing strata of society – even not so much educated.
Love line of “The Last Wish” is also specific feature produced by the author but
for the first time in a fantasy fiction. Here is an interesting fact, there are many out-
standing plots are interpreted by the author in which love motifs are depicted and
modified. Sapkovskyi uses the so-called desacralization of love, as Geralt does not
view his felling as high and immoral. He prefers flirts or freedom in relationships be-
fore he met Yennifer. (example).
Together with humor, the author uses his conclusions at the end of his stories.
Composionally, they are very essential and philosophic. They are short comment of
the story, moral lesson. (example).
Sapkovskyi was the first writer of fantasy who was able to combine within the
same literary text so heterogenous aspects. Among them can be called his interpreta-
tion of social problems. He manages to unite real and irreal worlds so tight that the
problems of modern world seem so organic and typical of the Msddle Ages. (Exam-
ple).
Having researched A. Sapkovskyi’s “The Last Wish”, one can make some conclu-
sions as for the author’s attitude towards structuring f canonical text. He inherited
much issues from his genius teacher J. Tolkien, but he modified almost all his as-
pects. So, one can assume that s created his own text which has rather real chances to
become a cannon by himself.

Conclusion
The great J. Tolkien’s novel “The Lod of Rings” is nowadays viewed as old fic -
tion of all times, the classic example, to be fa fantasy canon, no wonder. Interestingly,
that Tolkien himself has never said about it as a canon, before and after this fiction,
but his vision of such literature he expressed in his essay “On fairy tale” where he
stressed that in the tale some compulsory elements should be. Over time, the genre
stated developing and as stded , soon the conclusion as done that such kind of text
produced firstly by Tolkien is canonical or ideal. This among writers creating in the
sphere of fantasy inevitable made use of his principles. The so-called cannon com-
prised the set pf special characteristics – secondary world, and others.
One of the modern writers who were among predecessors of Tolkien should be
called A. Sapkovskiy. Today, scholars have many profs that he has really works took
from Tolkien’s novel. The common for them is secondary world, in which specific
mages, genre nature, magic, images, languages, philosophical base.
However, they have many differences, they have different approaches to forming
genre structure of fantasy. In particular, Tolkien uses as dominant myth as key genre
source, whereas Sapkovskyi uses fairy tales which undergo changes due to the au-
rthor’s concept. Though mythology also is considered the ground basing otherworld,
but it is not so farther as that of Tolkien’s thanks to, probably, numerous tales took to
the text, they are chronologically later written that myth. Besides, Sapkovskyi in-
volved unlike Tolkien myths suitable territorial and national closer from national
point of view than to T. On the other hand, structurally, “The Last Wish” resembles a
Middle-aged work aa Geralt travels from town to town, and the Polish writer more
textual episodes devote to it more than Tolkien who pays more attention to struggles
and descriptions of searching of ring. Images created by Tolkien and Sapkovskyi
have the same special characteristics, they are real, unreal, and magic creatures.
Tolkien as them more, S has the only main hero, and the plot is concentrated about
him and the rest of the images ate subsequent, dependant on him. Also, there are im-
ages transferring from story to story, as in the trilogy the set of the heroes remain un-
changeable. Concerning creatures, they are much alike, but Sapkovskyi uses more
them in number and they are used with various targets in the text.
In Sapkovskyi’s novel magical things are located, changes – they are frequently
used than in Tolkien’s novel, but the swear as a powerful symbol does not exist. Her-
alt to some rate looks like Aragorn.
Both Tolkien and Sapkovskyi are suprisingly talented linguists and therefore cre-
ated new languages their personages are spoken. But Sapkovskyi uses to his novel
also obscene words, stylistic means, which are absent in Tolkien’s novel. Sap-
kovskyi. added to Tolkien’s canon some philosophical opinions, humor and social
problems. So, having studied their canons, one can conclude that the Polish writer
borrowed from his literary teacher, but modified his cannon and hencewith, obvi-
ously, created his own.

Додати Влітку 1) цитати із Сапковського десь на 2 сторінки)

2) критику про цей твір (мій вайбер+ще з інтернета – по джерелу на
сторінку)
3) література, оформлення якої буде згідно з вимогами видання (потім,
як воно стане відомим).