Progress in the Discourse of Todorovian, Tolkienian and Mystic Fantasy Theory Greg Bechtel University of New Brunswick
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Fantasy and Imagination: Discovering the Threshold of Meaning David Michael Westlake
The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fogler Library 5-2005 Fantasy and Imagination: Discovering the Threshold of Meaning David Michael Westlake Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd Part of the Modern Literature Commons Recommended Citation Westlake, David Michael, "Fantasy and Imagination: Discovering the Threshold of Meaning" (2005). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 477. http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/477 This Open-Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. FANTASY AND IMAGINATION: DISCOVERING THE THRESHOLD OF MEANING BY David Michael Westlake B.A. University of Maine, 1997 A MASTER PROJECT Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (in Liberal Studies) The Graduate School The University of Maine May, 2005 Advisory Committee: Kristina Passman, Associate Professor of Classical Language and Literature, Advisor Jay Bregrnan, Professor of History Nancy Ogle, Professor of Music FANTASY AND IMAGINATION: DISCOVERING THE THRESHOLD OF MEANING By David Michael Westlake Thesis Advisor: Dr. Kristina Passman An Abstract of the Master Project Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (in Liberal Studies) May, 2005 This thesis addresses the ultimate question of western humanity; how does one find meaning in the present era? It offers the reader one powerful way for this to happen, and that is through the stories found in the pages of Fantasy literature. It begins with Frederick Nietzsche's declaration that, "God is dead." This describes the situation of men and women in his time and today. -
Small Renaissances Engendered in JRR Tolkien's Legendarium
Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Senior Honors Theses Honors College 2017 'A Merrier World:' Small Renaissances Engendered in J. R. R. Tolkien's Legendarium Dominic DiCarlo Meo Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/honors Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons Recommended Citation Meo, Dominic DiCarlo, "'A Merrier World:' Small Renaissances Engendered in J. R. R. Tolkien's Legendarium" (2017). Senior Honors Theses. 555. http://commons.emich.edu/honors/555 This Open Access Senior Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact lib- [email protected]. 'A Merrier World:' Small Renaissances Engendered in J. R. R. Tolkien's Legendarium Abstract After surviving the trenches of World War I when many of his friends did not, Tolkien continued as the rest of the world did: moving, growing, and developing, putting the darkness of war behind. He had children, taught at the collegiate level, wrote, researched. Then another Great War knocked on the global door. His sons marched off, and Britain was again consumed. The "War to End All Wars" was repeating itself and nothing was for certain. In such extended dark times, J. R. R. Tolkien drew on what he knew-language, philology, myth, and human rights-peering back in history to the mythologies and legends of old while igniting small movements in modern thought. Arthurian, Beowulfian, African, and Egyptian myths all formed a bedrock for his Legendarium, and fantasy-fiction as we now know it was rejuvenated.Just like the artists, authors, and thinkers from the Late Medieval period, Tolkien summoned old thoughts to craft new creations that would cement themselves in history forever. -
The World of Fantasy Literature Has Little to Do with the Exotic Worlds It Describes
The world of fantasy literature has little to do with the exotic worlds it describes. It is generally tied to often well-earned connotations of cheap writing, childish escapism, overused tropes copied and pasted straight out of The Lord of the Rings, and a strong commercial vitality. Perhaps it is the comforting predictability that draws me in—but the same could be said of the delight that I feel when some clever author has taken the old and worn hero-cycle and turned it inside out. Maybe I just like dragons and swords. It could be that the neatly packaged, solvable problems within a work of fantasy literature, problems that are nothing like the ones I have to deal with, such as marauding demons or kidnappings by evil witches, are more attractive than my own more confusing ones. Somehow they remain inspiring and terrifying despite that. Since I was a child, fantasy has always been able to captivate me. I never spared much time for the bland narratives of a boy and his dog or the badly thought-out antics of neighborhood friends. I preferred the more dangerous realms of Redwall, populated by talking animals, or Artemis Fowl, a fairy-abducting, preteen, criminal mastermind. In fact, reading was so strongly ingrained in me that teachers, parents and friends had to, and on occasion still need to, ask me to put down my book. I really like reading, and at some point that love spilled over and I started to like writing, too. Telling a story does not have to be deep or meaningful in its lessons. -
Fantasy Literature: Definition”
Written version of the lecture Malin Alkestrand: “Fantasy literature: Definition” What is fantasy literature? This is a question that has been debated and answered in numerous studies on fantasy literature, but a quick overview of the studies shows that there is not one simple answer to this question. Different scholars mention different criteria for the genre, and they include different literary works in their descriptions of the genre. However, there are a few basic aspects that they all define as central for fantasy literature. In the following, I will discuss a few different definitions of fantasy literature that clarify the most central characteristics of the genre. To begin with, I want to point out that there is a difference between fantastic literature and fantasy literature. Fantastic literature includes all kinds of literature that do not rely on a mimetic description of a world that is similar to reality, such as fantasy literature, science fiction, and horror (Irwin 1976:55). Fantasy literature, on the other hand, is one of the genres included within the wider concept of fantastic literature, but it displays genre characteristics which makes it very different from science fiction, for example. Whereas science fiction literature describes a possible future with advanced technology that does not yet exist, but could potentially exist in 10, 100 or 1000 years, fantasy literature portrays worlds where the supernatural exists (see James & Mendlesohn 2012:3). Magic, magical creatures, spells, and dragons introduce a world that does not follow the natural laws that govern our own reality. According to William Robert Irwin (1976:155) fantasy literature can be understood as the result of presenting the supernatural as real and always present. -
FLM201 Film Genre: Understanding Types of Film (Study Guide)
Course Development Team Head of Programme : Khoo Sim Eng Course Developer(s) : Khoo Sim Eng Technical Writer : Maybel Heng, ETP © 2021 Singapore University of Social Sciences. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the Educational Technology & Production, Singapore University of Social Sciences. ISBN 978-981-47-6093-5 Educational Technology & Production Singapore University of Social Sciences 463 Clementi Road Singapore 599494 How to cite this Study Guide (MLA): Khoo, Sim Eng. FLM201 Film Genre: Understanding Types of Film (Study Guide). Singapore University of Social Sciences, 2021. Release V1.8 Build S1.0.5, T1.5.21 Table of Contents Table of Contents Course Guide 1. Welcome.................................................................................................................. CG-2 2. Course Description and Aims............................................................................ CG-3 3. Learning Outcomes.............................................................................................. CG-6 4. Learning Material................................................................................................. CG-7 5. Assessment Overview.......................................................................................... CG-8 6. Course Schedule.................................................................................................. CG-10 7. Learning Mode................................................................................................... -
Golden Fantasy: an Examination of Generic & Literary Fantasy in Popular Writing Zechariah James Morrison Seattle Pacific Nu Iversity
Seattle aP cific nivU ersity Digital Commons @ SPU Honors Projects University Scholars Spring June 3rd, 2016 Golden Fantasy: An Examination of Generic & Literary Fantasy in Popular Writing Zechariah James Morrison Seattle Pacific nU iversity Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/honorsprojects Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, and the Fiction Commons Recommended Citation Morrison, Zechariah James, "Golden Fantasy: An Examination of Generic & Literary Fantasy in Popular Writing" (2016). Honors Projects. 50. https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/honorsprojects/50 This Honors Project is brought to you for free and open access by the University Scholars at Digital Commons @ SPU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ SPU. Golden Fantasy By Zechariah James Morrison Faculty Advisor, Owen Ewald Second Reader, Doug Thorpe A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University Scholars Program Seattle Pacific University 2016 2 Walk into any bookstore and you can easily find a section with the title “Fantasy” hoisted above it, and you would probably find the greater half of the books there to be full of vast rural landscapes, hackneyed elves, made-up Latinate or Greek words, and a small-town hero, (usually male) destined to stop a physically absent overlord associated with darkness, nihilism, or/and industrialization. With this predictability in mind, critics have condemned fantasy as escapist, childish, fake, and dependent upon familiar tropes. Many a great fantasy author, such as the giants Ursula K. Le Guin, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and others, has recognized this, and either agreed or disagreed as the particulars are debated. -
Exploring Trauma Through Fantasy
IN-BETWEEN WORLDS: EXPLORING TRAUMA THROUGH FANTASY Amber Leigh Francine Shields A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2018 Full metadata for this thesis is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this thesis: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/16004 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 4 Abstract While fantasy as a genre is often dismissed as frivolous and inappropriate, it is highly relevant in representing and working through trauma. The fantasy genre presents spectators with images of the unsettled and unresolved, taking them on a journey through a world in which the familiar is rendered unfamiliar. It positions itself as an in-between, while the consequential disturbance of recognized world orders lends this genre to relating stories of trauma themselves characterized by hauntings, disputed memories, and irresolution. Through an examination of films from around the world and their depictions of individual and collective traumas through the fantastic, this thesis outlines how fantasy succeeds in representing and challenging histories of violence, silence, and irresolution. Further, it also examines how the genre itself is transformed in relating stories that are not yet resolved. While analysing the modes in which the fantasy genre mediates and intercedes trauma narratives, this research contributes to a wider recognition of an understudied and underestimated genre, as well as to discourses on how trauma is narrated and negotiated. -
Questing Feminism: Narrative Tensions and Magical Women in Modern Fantasy
University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Open Access Dissertations 2018 Questing Feminism: Narrative Tensions and Magical Women in Modern Fantasy Kimberly Wickham University of Rhode Island, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss Recommended Citation Wickham, Kimberly, "Questing Feminism: Narrative Tensions and Magical Women in Modern Fantasy" (2018). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 716. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/716 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. QUESTING FEMINISM: NARRATIVE TENSIONS AND MAGICAL WOMEN IN MODERN FANTASY BY KIMBERLY WICKHAM A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 2018 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DISSERTATION OF KIMBERLY WICKHAM APPROVED: Dissertation Committee: Major Professor Naomi Mandel Carolyn Betensky Robert Widell Nasser H. Zawia DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 2018 Abstract Works of Epic Fantasy often have the reputation of being formulaic, conservative works that simply replicate the same tired story lines and characters over and over. This assumption prevents Epic Fantasy works from achieving wide critical acceptance resulting in an under-analyzed and under-appreciated genre of literature. While some early works do follow the same narrative path as J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Epic Fantasy has long challenged and reworked these narratives and character tropes. That many works of Epic Fantasy choose replicate the patriarchal structures found in our world is disappointing, but it is not an inherent feature of the genre. -
Fantasy As a Popular Genre in the Works of J. R. R. Tolkien and J. K
Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Bc. Tereza Havířová FantasyasaPopularGenreintheWorksofJ.R.R.Tolkien andJ.K.Rowling Masters’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. Brno 2007 Ideclare thatIhaveworkedonthis dissertationindependently,usingonlythesources listedinthe bibliography. ……………………………. 2 Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. for his time, patienceandadvice. I wouldalso like tosay‘thanks’ tomyeternal source of inspiration,my darktwin, theonlyreaderofFW,andthereal Draco. 3 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................................................................3 TABLE OF CONTENTS .....................................................................................................................................4 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................5 2 GENRE .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 3 FORMULAIC LITERATURE .................................................................................................................. 11 3.1 DEFINITION ............................................................................................................................................ 11 4 ROMANCE -
Reading the Fantastic Imagination
Reading the Fantastic Imagination Reading the Fantastic Imagination: The Avatars of a Literary Genre Edited by Dana Percec Reading the Fantastic Imagination: The Avatars of a Literary Genre Edited by Dana Percec This book first published 2014 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2014 by Dana Percec and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-5387-9, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5387-3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ................................................................................................. viii Introduction .............................................................................................. xv It’s a Kind of Magic Dana Percec Part I: Fantasy: Terms and Boundaries Chapter One ................................................................................................ 2 Fantasy: Beyond Failing Definitions Pia Brînzeu Chapter Two ............................................................................................. 39 Gothic Literature: A Brief Outline Francisco Javier Sánchez-Verdejo Pérez Chapter Three .......................................................................................... -
The Story of Epic Fantasy
REALISING THE DREAM: THE STORY OF EPIC FANTASY ASHLEIGH WARD, B.A. (HONS) Department of English and Creative Writing Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law Flinders University Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS i. Summary ......................................................................................................................... 6 ii. Declaration ...................................................................................................................... 8 iii. Acknowledgments............................................................................................................ 9 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 10 1.1. A BRIEF HISTORY OF EPIC FANTASY ........................................................... 12 2. DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 18 2.1. DEFINING EPIC FANTASY ............................................................................ 19 2.1.1. Fantasy................................................................................................ 19 2.1.2. Epic Fantasy ....................................................................................... 31 2.1.3. Epic Fantasy: A Definition ................................................................. 35 2.2. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 38 2.2.1. Story and Discourse........................................................................... -
Towards a Cognitive Theory of (Canadian) Syncretic Fantasy By
University of Alberta The Word for World is Story: Towards a Cognitive Theory of (Canadian) Syncretic Fantasy by Gregory Bechtel A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English English and Film Studies ©Gregory Bechtel Fall 2011 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. Abstract Unlike secondary world fantasy, such as that of J.R.R. Tolkien, what I call syncretic fantasy is typically set in a world that overlaps significantly with the contemporary "real" or cognitive majoritarian world in which we (i.e. most North Americans) profess to live our lives. In terms of popular publication, this subgenre has been recognized by fantasy publishers, readers, and critics since (at least) the mid 1980s, with Charles De Lint's bestselling Moonheart (1984) and subsequent "urban fantasies" standing as paradigmatic examples of the type. Where secondary world fantasy constructs its alternative worlds in relative isolation from conventional understandings of "reality," syncretic fantasy posits alternative realities that coexist, interpenetrate, and interact with the everyday real.