JOURNAL OF THE FANTASTIC IN THE ARTS

   US academic critical journal sponsored by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, current, theoretically quarterly but irregular after the first 4 issues (1988), with a further 6 issues during 1989-1991. Then the schedule became more regular, and the journal hadreached \#21 (Vol 6, no 1) by 1994. Vol 1 \#1-\#4 published M.E. Sharpe, Inc. , New York, subsequent issues by Orion Publishing, New York. Executive edCarl B. YOKE; other eds Marshall B. TYMN, Roger SCHLOBIN and Robert A. Collins and later Charles A. Meyer.This comparatively recent addition to the specialist academic journals dealing with sf (EXTRAPOLATION; FOUNDATION; SCIENCE-FICTION STUDIES) has, on the whole, been vigorous and(mostly) eschews excessive critical jargon. Because its remit includes the whole range of the fantastic, including not only sf but also FANTASY, HORROR and FABULATION, it has a certain amplitude the others lack -usefully so in a period of literary history when generic boundaries are rapidly dissolving - but by the same token it sometimes appears unfocused. However, some of the issues have been thematic, vol 1 \#4 being aboutPOSTMODERNISM, vol 2 \#2 about CINEMA, vol 2 \#3 about Doris LESSING and vol 3 \#1 about art, for example. The portfolios of fantastic art have been largely disastrous, but otherwise JOTFITA seems a promising addition to the field.

   PN