A Theological Reading of Sara Coleridge's Phantasmion (1837)

Sara Coleridge's Phantasmion (1837) is often identified as the first English fantasy novel. It has usually been read as an intentionally inconsequential work, meant to be enjoyed for its own sake. This paper proposes an alternative reading of the novel, one that views it as part of Coleridge's larger body of theological work. Phantasmion's form as a fantasy novel and the story that unfolds within that form are narrative expressions of her theology. This argument is developed along three lines: First, Coleridge expressly wrote that narrative and fairy tales are the best mode through which children are educated on Christianity. Second, Phantasmion's emphasis on the sanctification of its protagonist anticipates the concerns of her later Dialogues on Regeneration. Third, reading Phantasmion through the lens of Tolkien's "eucatastrophe" reveals that recovering the agency of women is essential to the renewal and restoration of the world.