The article discusses the work of J. R. R. Tolkien in the context of the concept of hope as it is defined in the Thomist philosophical system. The thrust of the argument is that the distinction between the two meanings of the word: hope defined as an appetitive passion of the soul and hope understood as one of the theological virtues provides a viable conceptual key to a discussion of the way in which the idea of hope functions in J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic works of fantasy fiction. The analysis seeks to trace the evolution of this basic dichotomy throughout The Lord of the Rings and the most pertinent sections of the legendarium presenting how the notion of hope functions for the civilization of the Elves and of Men, and also how the interaction between the passion and the virtue of hope impacts upon the construction and function of some of the key the individual characters of Tolkien’s fiction.

The aim of this article is to interpret Maria Anto’s painting in a new light and compare it with the art of women associated with the international Surrealist avant-garde. The Polish painter shared a similar sensibility with the Surrealists. Creating very personal, atmospheric works, they took up common themes and motifs in their works.

Ursula K. Le Guin was an American writer, a master of science fiction and fantasy. She was the author of the famous Earthsea trilogy, in which magic remains the pivotal idea. In the novels, Le Guin links immense, yet dangerous, supernatural abilities with the idea of Equlibrium within realms, a principle that governs the universe. The paper is an attempt to elucidate how certain visions of life after death are constellated within Le Guin’s fantasy writings. Visibly inspired by Eastern mythologies and religious doctrines, the author does not steer clear from the vision rooted in Western traditions. The ongoing debate is an attempt at clarifying the universal concept of soul and mankind.

Contemporary Arabic literature is slowly approaching a local production of the “fantasy” genre through attempts that can be considered an important starting point for this new genre still being defined in the Arab world. During the last decades the influence exerted by Western countries on the production of this literary genre, that reaches the Arab world around the twentieth century, has been evident mainly through the translations of Western fantasy novels. Among the various genres of fantasy novels which still enjoy international fame and have been translated into Arabic we find: The Lord of the Rings (1954–55) by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien; A Song of Ice and Fire (1996–2005) by Raymond Richard Martin and Harry Potter (1997–2007) by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. The delay in the introduction of the fantasy genre in the Arab countries has begun to be overcome in recent years, in fact many Arab authors have tried to write new fantasy novels. The fantastic tradition of Arab Islamic civilization is also an important part of drawing on the creation of original fantasy works. The study shows a general propensity of the contemporary Arab world to create a local fantasy, in which the Arab authors try to put the accent on the characteristic elements of Middle Eastern culture, though also drawing on the Western fantasy tradition.

The article presents selected literary texts of Russian Romanticism, which can be classified as utopian or dystopian literature. Attention was drawn to the fluidity of borders between the species of positive and negative utopia. Works by Utopian writers were divided into two groups: those sympathizing with decay (A. Ulybyshev, W. Küchelbecker) and those representing the Pushkin era: J. Senkovskij and V. Odojevsky. The analysis of utopian texts showed that they belonged mainly to escapist utopias, and Russian Romanticism significantly influenced the development of negative utopias, which were open to the literary experiment. It was also shown that the works in question are related to the genre of travel literature and scientific fantasy.

This article will focus on different forms of hybridization in the contemporary Belgian fantasy novel. It demonstrates aesthetic communion by referring to four authors: Alain Dartevelle, Christopher Gérard, Thomas Gunzig and Bernard Quiriny. By analyzing the syncretism at once generic, poetic and stylistic of their novels, it traces the contours of their mixed writing. It also reflects on the place that these novelists reserve for the supernatural, an ingredient inherent in fantastic alchemy, as well as on the national, even Belgian, character of their writing.

Stanisław Lem is considered the most outstanding representative of Polish and one of the most eminent representatives of world science-fiction literature, as well as a futurologist and—at least by some—a philosopher who, in the form of novels and short stories written in the convention of science fiction and the so-called discursive prose, touched upon important philosophical problems concerning the place of man in the Universe, the effects of technological and civilisational progress and the issue of the limits of cognition. The article reconstructs and analyses the main philosophical problems presented in the work Filozoficzny Lem. Wybór tekstów Stanisława Lema i opracowania [ The Philosophical Lem. A Selection of Texts by Stanisław Lem and Studies] edited by Filip Kobiela and Jakub Gomułka.

In 2006 Maria Janion wrote in The Uncanny Slavdom that “the new narrative of the humanities can tell the story of our culture differentlyˮ. Since that time such 'new narratives' have multiplied literally right in front of our eyes. While in the late 2000s the existence of a distinct Slavic fantasy subgenre was a matter of controversy, hotly debated by both authors and academics, today its presence and popularity is too conspicuous to leave any room for doubt. Each year the market is flooded with dozens of new Slavic fantasy books, which are then discussed in countless blogs, vlogs, discussion groups, and podcasts. The growth of interest in Slavic fantasy is phenomenal and seems to be part of a larger trend gaining ground not just in Poland but also in other Slavic nations. This gives rise to a number of questions which this article tries to address: What is Slavic fantasy? What place does it occupy in modern popular culture? What effects, beneficial or less so, will it have?

This is a critical reading of two Polish science-fiction novels of the post-Apocalypse subgenre, Cassandra’s Head by Marek Baraniecki and The Old Axolotl by Jacek Dukaj, with the help of concepts borrowed from the philosophical toolkit of Jacques Lacan. Each of the two books envisages an apocalyptic catastrophe and its consequences as well as the subsequent attempts to rebuild human civilization. The action in either novel is shaped by tensions between the Symbolic and the Real. The latter, though suppressed and shut out, keeps resurfacing, usually when it is least expected, leaving an indelible marks in the life of the survivors. An analysis of the handling of this conflict in the two novels offers a number of insights into the way these two fundamental modes (or, Lacanian orders) of human perception are integrated into the worlds of post-Apocalyptic fiction.