Dared to read the thread through at last...
Why should fantasy be either dream or an escape? Can't it be both?
Can we really separate a dream and an escape?
In my opinion they are the same to some extent. What else is a dream than an escape? Don't we escape the present to dreams?
Yet, escape might be more than a dream, it can be something more concretical (sp?).
Of course there are many extents to both "dream" and "escape", but as long as they are interwoven and entwined, they are (almost) the same thing and isn't that what is fantasy? Or faerie?
(And if this made sense, I'm surprised...
)