Michael, R., Donnar, G.
Crosshatch Fantasy: Unsettling Portals, Crisis Heterotopias, and Comings-of-Age
(2023) in Elana Gomel, Danielle Gurevitch (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Fantasy, Palgrave, 2023, pp. 71-83.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-26397-2_6
Abstract
This chapter introduces an intriguing concept of ‘crosshatch’ fantasy: another world that is superimposed upon consensus reality. Using Michel Foucault’s notion of heterotopia and examining two influential examples of coming-of-age crosshatch fantasy, The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper 1973) and Elidor (Alan Garner 1965), their essay considers ‘crosshatch’ worlds as ‘counter-sites’ of crisis, transition, and maturation. In contrast to classic ‘portal’ fantasy, the heterotopic worlds in which these occur do not stay safely ‘over there’ in crosshatch fiction; they return to and irrevocably disrupt the ‘real’ world. This unsettling, transformative potential is equally true of the act of (re)reading itself. That is, entering the ‘portal’ of the fantasy text similarly constitutes a heterotopic space for the younger reader-especially when it comes to crosshatch fantasies. For protagonist and reader alike, crosshatch fantasy provides productive opportunities to come into power ‘out of sight’ before returning to a world changed ‘for ever and ever.’
Foucault News 