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Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997)
Green, Roger Lancelyn

Tagged: Author, Editor.

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(1918-1987) UK scholar and writer, particularly of children's books. As a scholar he produced a number of studies useful to the fantasy enthusiast, in particular Teller of Tales (1946; rev 1953), a series of essays on children's writers; Andrew Lang: A Critical Biography (1946) and Andrew Lang (1962 chap), about a writer whose career had much in common with Green's (see Andrew Lang); The Story of Lewis Carroll (1949) and Lewis Carroll (1960 chap; rev in Three Bodley Head Monographs omni 1968), Fifty Years of Peter Pan (1954) and J.M. Barrie (1960 chap); Authors & Places: A Literary Pilgrimage (1963); and two biographies of C S Lewis, whom Green knew at Oxford: C.S. Lewis (1963 chap; rev in Three Bodley Head Monographs omni 1969) and the longer C.S. Lewis: A Biography (1974) with Walter Hooper (1931-2020). He also produced an early study of spaceflight in fiction, Into Other Worlds: Space-Flight in Fiction (1957), and also The Hamish Hamilton Book of Other Worlds (anth 1976; vt The Beaver Book of Other Worlds 1978). His work as an anthologist and editor focuses mostly on children's books, though his scholarly approach makes these equally appealing to older readers. They include Modern Fairy Stories (anth 1955), Thirteen Uncanny Tales (anth 1970), The Hamish Hamilton Book of Dragons (anth 1970), The Hamish Hamilton Book of Magicians (anth 1973; vt A Book of Magicians 1977), Strange Adventures in Time (anth 1974) and two collections of works by Victorian writers, Fairy Stories (coll 1958), by Mary Molesworth (1839-1921), and The Complete Fairy Tales of George Macdonald (coll 1977).

Of his own fiction, From the World's End (1948) is the most mystical. Two children explore a remote empty house which is so steeped in the past that it evokes visions of the ancient world (see Time Abyss). The Land Beyond the North (1958) follows the Argonauts to Britain. He is best known for his retelling of legends for children, which are numerous; they include King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (1953; cut vt King Arthur's Court 1996 chap), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1956), Tales of the Greek Heroes (1958), Heroes of Greece and Troy (1960) and The Saga of Asgard (1960; vt Myths of the Norsemen 1970). These works offer an excellent introduction to Myths and Legends. [MA]

other works: Two Satyr Plays: Euripides' Cyclops; Sophocles' Ichneutai (trans Green 1957); Tales of Make-Believe (anth 1960).

see also: Children's Fantasy.

Roger Gilbert Lancelyn Green

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