Microsoft Word final-current Developments at the Intersection of British Children-online-version doc

4.1.2
 
Modern Magic 
Although a large part of magic consists of traditional elements, innovation and change 
make their arrival. With the new media and their influence manifesting themselves in fantasy 
for children, modern magic mirrors their progress. For most lay people the new media do 
indeed work in a truly magical way. So far from being completely disenchanted, modern 
society now allows for technicised magic.
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Authors who move with the times often produce 
challenging and interesting new ways of looking at magic. On the one hand, magic has to 
satisfy those who turn to old forms and ways in search for magic’s conservative quality. Here, 
a reassuring world is created in which traditional elements figure exclusively. On the other 
hand, magic has to explore new forms and possibilities if it wants to keep up with the 
changing times and not accumulate clichés. In our highly technicised world children can 
expect to be confronted with magic just as technicised as their own reality. For instance, its 
progression can be expressed in the form of entirely new devices or alternative views on those 
already in existence. Innovative forms of modern magic will be discussed under section 4.1.4.
4.1.3
 
Fantastic creatures 
As we have seen, the majority of the pool of elements at the disposal of authors of 
fantasy for children consists of traditional aspects. The same holds true of the novels of our 
corpus. Whereas many an author is anxious to satisfy the demand of originality, genuine 
innovation and creativity prove to be an ambitious venture. Of those writers aiming high only 
few succeed in designing entirely new creatures. By contrasting the latter with traditional 
elements, the alien nature of the new creations is emphasised.
Rowling is one of a small circle of authors who – besides employing traditional 
creatures - create a selection of novel ones. With her invention of unique beings such as 
Dementors, thestrals or blast-ended skrewts, Rowling contributes memorable new creatures to 
the fantastic inventory. Yet, the majority of Rowling’s magical cast is firmly anchored in 
tradition. With a multitude of creatures originating in myths and folklore, the author draws on 
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However, not every author or reader can get used to the idea of modern magic and nurtures nostalgic feelings. 
Instead, retro-magic in the form of “handmade” spells etc. are favoured. It goes without saying that many 
narrated magical events are for this reason firmly set in an appropriate environment, i.e. modifications of the 
conditions found in the Middle Ages. 

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plentiful resources. On a large and colourful canvas familiar beings roam around, for example 
centaurs, house elves, dragons
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, basilisks, a three-headed dog, flying horses, unicorns or were-
wolves. The recent past of fantasy literature has produced a number of exceptional fantastic 
creatures spread over the entire canvas of the genre.
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Compared with the total stock of 
magical creatures populating fantasy literature, outstanding representatives constitute a 
relatively small share. Yet, their strong presence compensates for it.
With witches, Cliff McNish’s Doomspell trilogy
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takes up prominent magical 
creatures of fantasy. Even so, his individual interpretation of their appearance and nature 
deviates considerably from the traditional picture. McNish’s witches do not have anything in 
common with old, wrinkled women clad in black, hunchbacked and replete with familiar and 
broomstick. Instead of a gingerbread house McNish’s witches favour soaring towers that 
dominate the eternal winter landscape of their planet Ithrea. Atypically, they do not live as 
hermits, but in groups of females, held together by the firm hand of a leader and waited on by 
slaves. In cruelty, these witches exceed any fairy tale witch by far, so for example 
Dragwena’s prophecy to the main character Rachel – herself a child: “[y]ou will kill lots of 
children, and, I promise, you will enjoy it.”
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The phenotype of McNish’s witches reflects their 
cruelty and undoubtedly
stems from the horror genre. The head witch Dragwena is described 
as having “blood-red skin”, tattooed purple eyes, and four sets of teeth, in between which 
armoured spiders live.
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An interesting and unique array of fantastic creatures
is presented by Pullman in his