Urbane Fantasy

[marycatelli]

Only loosely inspired by a program description from the con. . . .because I think it more interesting than the contrast with urban fantasy they used.

Fantasy of manners is heavily -- maybe exclusively -- drawing on nineteenth century societies, even if they get a lot added in the process of becoming an imaginary land.  Part of this is the influence of Jane Austen, who managed more than any other writer to write classic novels with, at most, off-stage elopements, and duels we do not hear of until they came off without consequence.  Fantasy of manners works tend to use more dramatic elements -- wisely, as Jane Austen is a very rare genius -- but the manners side often derives from her.

And then the nineteenth century was a very convenient century.  Aristocrats and kings still held a lot of power, but social mobility had increased, the industrial revolution was starting, etc. -- and so people were immensely class-conscious.  You will search in vain for something like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, where people from immensely different social strata all went off together.  And when wealth is floating about, manners are a good way to enforce social rigidity, and there is much need for enforcement.  (Then again, once they have mastered the manners, they are a positive aid to social climbers.  An earlier example:  in medieval Latin, "knight" is rendered "miles".  Once upon a time, this was because all warriors were knights, and knights were merely warriors.  The revival of commerce had given rich merchants clouts, and the knights had invented knighting to set themselves apart.  What it meant in the long run was that anyone who could get the ceremony could be a knight without being able to lift a sword.)

Plus, of course, there is the little matter of world-building without it.  Complicated systems of etiquette are even harder to devise than most systems that world building needs.  Much easier to rip off the real world, even if you have to scrap off the serial numbers.

Though China and Japan can be good sources, too.

part of bittercon .

Comments

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Note to self, must find fantasies of manners based off the complicated manners of China, Japan, Byzantium, and the assorted Persian empires.

[marycatelli]

Byzantium. Now there's a place where every foot would have to be placed with care with every step.

[mythusmage.livejournal.com]

In modern day literature steampunk is very much a genre of manners, based as it is on the Victorian Age and all that's associated with that.

In terms of urbane stories may I recommend Fletcher Pratt's The Blue Star. Then you have the boys adventure stories of the late 1800s, where scalawags and pirates waxed polite because it was expected of them.

[marycatelli]

and had lots of intrigues, at that, in Pratt's book.

[onelastsketch.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

Swordspoint is subtitled "A melodrama of Manners" and is written in the style of a regency novel but with decidedly 17th century touches thrown in; I believe they called it "mannerpunk" in the 80s but I'm not too fond of that word because it sounds rather silly. Of course, the big difference between Swordspoint and other fantasies of manners are the bloody duels and the fact Ellen Kushner actually went through all social strata instead of confining her characters to the aristocracy.

The only others manner-centred fantasies I've read are by Susanna Clarke and Patricia C. Wrede. I'm not really aware of any male writers who've given it a go (Steven Burst?), but I'm sure they exist somewhere.

[marycatelli]

Some of Teresa Edgerton's stuff is fantasy of manners, too.