Beagle’s Early Career and a New Chapter in American Fantasy

This introductory chapter first traces the unusual trajectory of Beagle’s writing career from his early ambitions and associations in the mainstream literary world to his later establishment as a central figure in genre fantasy. It assesses the metafictional fantasy novel The Last Unicorn as simultaneously genre-bending and genre-defining due to its play with the conventions of fantasy at a time in fantasy’s history before those conventions had become so firmly established. The novel’s comic tone and unique position in fantasy’s history resulted in a mixed reception inside and outside the genre community, although it has now been enshrined as a classic of the genre.