Fairytale Fiction or Fantasy redux

It's hard to believe that the fantasy fiction, appeared in Western literature about 80 years ago, and in Russian literature about 30 years ago, until today not included in the system of literary types, genres and formats. Also the fantasy fiction hasn't got a clear, consistent definition. In this study we undertake a new attempt to understand the basic characteristics of the phenomenon of fantasy. We also try to give our answer to the question about the genre of the high fantasy. And we put forward a hypothesis about the role and the importance of the fantasy fiction in the history of Russian literature.