Ghost of a flea

Although wainscot fantasies are ostensibly set within Primary Reality, they focus on fantastic "invisible or undetected societies living in the interstices of the dominant world" (Clute and Grant 991). In wainscot fantasy a particular relationship exists between two cultures which share the same physical space. The dominant culture--the culture the text's readers are presumed to share--is mundane, large, and presumed to hold power over its environment, but is largely unaware of the existence of the wainscot culture. The wainscot culture is fantastic in some way, but also small (often literally tiny, but also in terms of numbers) and marginal, vulnerable to the power the dominant culture can exercise over its environment (which includes the wainscot culture) and therefore fearful of attracting the dominant culture's attention. Wainscot cultures tend to defend themselves against the power of the dominant culture by becoming invisible and very insular.