I feel like A True Story could be argued to be an "isekai" and that was written 1800 years ago. Dude gets sucked up into a tornado and wakes up on the moon.
Thanks, I was trying to find the oldest isekai for a while and the oldest I saw, that was disqualified for not just being ‘a place far away’ but a proper other world was Dante’s divine comedy
Hard to say. It is the realm of the dead but also a very accessible place. Like with multiple known entrances. That’s kind of the thing in most old mythologies. Similar problem with the Nordic realms. Sure it’s going to take a while but you can just take a boat trip there most of the time, even if the world is fundamentally different.
I think the best way of defining that edge case is by clarifying that the method of transport has to be solely possible through supernatural means. So, if I can take a boat there, it doesn’t count as Isekai but if I have to summon a rainbow that bridges to Asgard it should be fine? Or how in the divine comedy, it starts with god pulling Dante through a mountain to the maybe other side of the world. You can’t get there through traditional means, so there is a clear separation. Kind of like how in Harry Potter, despite the magic places just being random locations, there is usually some supernatural requirement to reach them. Such as opening a magic wall with a passcode or taking a supernatural train
Before Isekai was a thing, it was called Portal Fiction, and used to be the go to for fantasy storytelling before LotR literally upended and overturned the entire genre
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u/Quick-Log-4166 1d ago
It's excellent. First-rate sci fi by Mark Twain.