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4.
 
Traditional elements in children’s fantasy 
As we have seen in chapter two, British children’s literature is firmly anchored in 
literary history and its origins. Particularly fantasy novels for children, through their close 
affinity with fairy tales, are founded on a sturdy basis of traditional elements originating in 
folk tales and heroic epics but also in myths and legends. This literary heritage possesses 
stable and reliable elements whose longevity and popularity are not without reason. Amongst 
these traditional elements are fixtures in the inventory of fantasy narration for children, for 
example the motif of the lost or orphaned child. Other fixed guidelines for patterns call for a 
dichotomy between good and evil, replete with the ensuing conflict between its respective 
representatives, the villain and the hero. On his obligatory quest and accompanying journey, 
symbolising his acculturation and initiation, the hero is frequently helped by a benign mentor, 
but also by friends. A combination of magic and a pinch of humour usually round off the 
narration and make possible the events in the first place. As far as narrative techniques are 
concerned, current British fantasy novels for children do not simply throw established 
principles overboard. The majority of the novels analysed in this study retain, amongst others, 
the chronological rendering of past events, a third person narrator as well as the change 
between narration and dialogues.
Even the most recent and innovative publications of British fantasy novels for children 
cannot get around an adoption of at least some of these conventions, since the latter constitute 
the basic elements of the genre. To a certain extent modern authors rely on the virtually 
inexhaustible pool of traditional elements for the characteristics of their narration. At the same 
time, they may introduce some variations, combined with entirely new or sufficiently 
alienated components. However new and original a bestseller might appear at first sight, on 
closer inspection familiar ingredients reveal themselves. This is not to say that any new author 
merely revamps traditions of old. However, especially today, the creation of absolute 
ingenuity and entire novelty become more and more difficult.
In this chapter, a selection of the most frequent and dominant traditional elements in 
British children’s fantasy shall be presented. On the basis of this customary handling of the 
elements magic, evil, violence and humour we can then draw conclusions for the present 
situation.

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