Recs if you like The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre...

Fantasy nonfiction, or books about the nature of the fantastic (and the lives of some of its most ardent devotees) for those of us who'd like to leave the comfort of our Hobbit holes and brave the literary wilderness.

A personal study in gothic lit, fantasy, mythology, and the writing of it.

Have you ever wanted a PhD in English Lit? Do you think fantasy is a legitimate field of literary criticism? Would you like a glimpse into the psyche of someone who does?

These are the books included (or excerpted from) on my comprehensive exams list for a dissertation on fantasy. It is not even a remotely comprehensive list of fantasy texts and criticism (yes, I see the irony).