thumb|left|Modern fan illustration by David Demaret of the dragon Smaug from J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 children's fantasy novel The Hobbit Dragons and dragon motifs are featured in many works of modern literature, particularly within the fantasy genre. As early as the eighteenth century, critical thinkers such as Denis Diderot were already asserting that too much literature had been published on dragons: "There are already in books all too many fabulous stories of dragons". In Lewis Carroll's classic children's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871), one of the inset poems describes the Jabberwock, a kind of dragon. Carroll's illustrator John Tenniel, a famous political cartoonist, humorously showed the Jabberwock with the waistcoat, buck teeth, and myopic eyes of a Victorian university lecturer, such as Carroll himself. In works of comedic children's fantasy, dragons often fulfill the role of a magic fairy tale helper. In such works, rather than being frightening as they are traditionally portrayed, dragons are instead represented as harmless, benevolent, and inferior to humans. They are sometimes shown living in contact with humans, or in isolated communities of only dragons. Though popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, "such comic and idyllic stories" began to grow increasingly rare after the 1960s, due to demand for more serious children's literature.
thumb|left|Modern fan illustration by David Demaret of the dragon Smaug from J R R Tolkien's 1937 children's fantasy novel The Hobbit Dragons and dragon motifs are featured in many works of modern literature particularly within the fantasy genre As early as the eighteenth century critical thinkers such as Denis Diderot were already asserting that too much literature had been published on dragons "There are already in books all too many fabulous stories of dragons" In Lewis Carroll's classic children's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871) one of the inset poems describes the Jabberwock a kind of dragon Carroll's illustrator John Tenniel a famous political cartoonist humorously showed the Jabberwock with the waistcoat buck teeth and myopic eyes of a Victorian university lecturer such as Carroll himself In works of comedic children's fantasy dragons often fulfill the role of a magic fairy tale helper In such works rather than being frightening as they are traditionally portrayed dragons are instead represented as harmless benevolent and inferior to humans They are sometimes shown living in contact with humans or in isolated communities of only dragons Though popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries "such comic and idyllic stories" began to grow increasingly rare after the 1960s due to demand for more serious children's literature