"In an anonymous essay titled 'The Progress of Fiction as an Art', which appeared in the Westminster Review in 1853, the author...argued that art, like technology, progresses from more primitive to more sophisticated forms, and 'a scientific and somewhat sceptical age has no longer the power of believing in the marvels which delighted our ruder ancestors." (Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature edited by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn)
So, according to this, previous to the 18th century fiction with fantastical elements was realistic because people believed in the fantastic. Later it didn't work anymore because only 'rubes' and 'primitives' believed in the fantastic. This viewpoint still holds much credence today in Anglo-American literary fiction - the modernists.
I find this insistence that fiction reflect our view of reality very interesting. Why is that so important? Can't fantasy literature - literature that doesn't reflect our view of reality - still convey other kinds of truth - emotional, moral, human? And what the heck's wrong with a little escapism anyway?
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