The Shifting Perils of the Strange and the Familiar’: Representations of the Orient in Children's Fantasy Literature

‘The shifting perils of the strange and the familiar’: representations of the Orient in children's fantasy literature by Farah Ismail Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Magister Artium (English) In the Faculty of Humanities University of Pretoria Pretoria 2010 Supervisor: Ms. Molly Brown © University of Pretoria Acknowledgments I would like to thank: Ms. Molly Brown, for her guidance and support My parents, Suliman and Faaiqa Ismail, for their support and encouragement Mrs Idette Noomé, for her help with the Afrikaans translation of the summary Yvette Samson, whose boundless enthusiasm has been an immense inspiration © University of Pretoria Summary This thesis investigates the function of representations of the Orient in fantasy literature for children with a focus on The Chronicles of Narnia as exemplifying its most problematic manifestation. According to Edward Said (2003:1-2), the Orient is one of Europe’s ‘deepest and most recurring images of the Other… [which]…has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience.’ However, values are grouped around otherness1 in fantasy literature as in no other genre, facilitating what J.R.R. Tolkien (2001:58) identifies as Recovery, the ‘regaining of a clear view… [in order that] the things seen clearly may be freed from the drab blur of triteness or familiarity.’ In Chapter One, it is argued that this gives the way the genre deals with spaces and identities characterized as Oriental, which in Western stories are themselves vested with qualities of strangeness, a peculiar significance. Specifically, new ways of perceiving the function of representations of the Other are explored in the genre of fantasy. Edward Said’s concept of imaginative geographies is then introduced and the significance of this concept in light of the fictional spaces of fantasy is explored. Next, fantasy’s links to representations of the Orient in Romance literature are explained, and the way in which these representations are determined by the heritage of Orientalist discourse is examined. Finally, the issue of children’s literature as colonial space and the implications of this in a fantasy framework are discussed. 1 Otherness, signifying the Orientalist concept, is distinguished in this thesis from the otherness effected by the marvellous quality of fantasy by the use of a capital ‘O’. © University of Pretoria Chapter Two begins by introducing C.S. Lewis and explaining the ideology at work in The Chronicles of Narnia. The order in which The Chronicles should be approached is then established, and the construction of identity in the first three of The Chronicles is examined. Chapter Three focuses on The Horse and His Boy, the book in which the pseudo-Oriental space of Calormen most prominently figures. Chapter Four is devoted to the last two books of The Chronicles with emphasis on the role played by the Other in the destruction of Narnia in The Last Battle. In Chapter Five, I sum up the essential problems of representing the Orient as illustrated by my study of The Chronicles of Narnia. Representations of the Orient in The Chronicles are compared with pseudo-Oriental constructions in Castle in the Air, by Diana Wynne Jones, Emperor Mage and The Woman Who Rides Like A Man by Tamora Pierce and both Voices and The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula K. Le Guin. The similarities and differences evident in the representations of the Orient in all these works are traced and the implications of them are explored. Le Guin in particular is noted as an author who demonstrates some ways to break free of Orientalist paradigms of identity. Key terms: children’s literature, C.S. Lewis, Diana Wynne Jones, fantasy, Narnia, orientalism, orient, Other, postcolonialism, Said, Tamora Pierce, Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin © University of Pretoria Opsomming Hierdie tesis ondersoek die funksie van uitbeeldings van die Ooste in fantasieletterkunde vir kinders, met die klem op The Chronicles of Narnia wat as voorbeeld dien vir die mees problematiese manifestasie hiervan. Volgens Edward Said (2003:1-2) is die Ooste een van Europa se ‘deepest and most recurring images of the Other2… [which]…has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience’ [diepste en mees herhaalde beelde van die ‘Ander’...[wat]... gehelp het om Europa (oftewel die Weste) te omskryf as ‘n kontrasterende beeld, idee, persoonlikheid, ervaring]. Waardes word egter sterker gekonsentreer op ‘Andersheid’ in fantasieletterkunde as in enige ander genre, en dit fassiliteer wat J.R.R. Tolkien (2001:58) identifiseer as ‘Recovery’ [herwinning], die ‘regaining of a clear view… [in order that] the things seen clearly may be freed from the drab blur of triteness or familiarity’ [herwinning van ‘n duideliker oorsig...[sodat] dit wat mens duidelik sien, vrygemaak kan word van die eentonige waas van alledaagsheid of bekendheid]. In Hookstuk Een word daar aangevoer dat dit ‘n besondere betekenins toeken aan die manier waarop die genre die plekke en identiteite uitbeeld wat as Oosters beskryf word, wat in Westerse verhale insigself as anderssoortig identifiseer word. In die besonder word daar gekyk na nuwe wyses om die funksie van uitbeeldings van die Ander waar te neem en te ondersoek in die fantasiegenre. 2 ‘Otherness’ [Andersheid], wat hier verwys na die begrip van Orientalisme, word in hierdie tesis deur ‘n hoofletter onderskei van die ‘otherness’ of andersheid wat in fantasiefiksie geskep word deur die eienskap van wonderbaarlikheid. © University of Pretoria Edward Said se begrip van verbeelde geografieë word dan bespreek en die betekenis van hierdie konsep word in die lig van die fiktiewe ruimtes van fantasieletterkunde ondersoek. Vervolgens word fantasiefiksie se verband met uitbeeldings van die Ooste in die ridderroman verduidelik, asook die wyse waarop hierdie uitbeeldings deur ‘n erfenis van Orientalistiese diskoerse geraak is. Uiteindelik word die kwessie van kinderletterkunde as koloniale ruimte en die implikasies hiervan in ’n fantasiefiksieraamwerk bespreek. In Hoofstuk Twee word C.S. Lewis aan die leser voorgehou, en die ideologie in The Chronicles of Narnia word verduidelik. Die volgorde waarin The Chronicles benader moet word, word dan bepaal, en identiteitskonstruksie in die eerste drie Chronicles word ondersoek. Hoofstuk Drie fokus op The Horse and His Boy, die boek waarin die pseudo-Oosterse ruimte van Calormen die sterkste figureer. Hoofstuk Vier is aan die laaste twee boeke van The Chronicles gewy, met die klem op die rol wat die Ander speel in die vernietiging van Narnia in The Last Battle. In Hookstuk Vyf word die wesenlike probleme opgesom wat ondervind word in die uitbeelding van die Ooste soos dit in hierdie studie van die Chronicles daargestel word. Uitbeeldings van die Ooste in die Chronicles word vergelyk met pseudo- Oosterse konstruksies in Castle in the Air deur Diana Wynne Jones, Emperor Mage en The Woman Who Rides Like A Man deur Tamora Pierce en Voices en The Earthsea Quartet deur Ursula K. Le Guin. Die ooreenkomste en verskille tussen hierdie uitbeeldings van die Ooste in al hierdie letterkundige werke word nagegaan en hulle implikasies word ondersoek. Le Guin in die besonder kan uitgeken word as ’n © University of Pretoria skrywer wat ‘n aantal wyses demonstreer waarop daar van Orientalistiese identiteitsparadigmas weggebreek kan word. Sleutelterme: Ander, C.S. Lewis, Diana Wynne Jones, fantasiefiksie, kinderletterkunde, Narnia, Oosters, orientalisme, postkolonialisme, Said, Tamora Pierce, Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin © University of Pretoria Table of contents Chapter One: Introduction: Fantasy, Children And Imaginative Geography 1 Chapter Two: C.S. Lewis And The Framing Of Ideal Identity 24 Chapter Three: Lessons In Leaving The Orient Behind 63 Chapter Four: Endings And Beginnings And The Location of Corruption 103 Chapter Five: Conclusion: Tracing The Oriental From Lewis to Le Guin 146 Bibliography 179 © University of Pretoria Chapter 1 Introduction: Fantasy, Children and Imaginative Geography Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s story The Secret Garden (1983: 9) begins by telling us that its protagonist, Mary Lennox, was born in India and that she has never seen ‘familiarly anything but the dark faces of her Ayah and the other native servants’. Nevertheless, it is made clear in this story that India is not home to Mary, something that she instinctively understands: “You are going to be sent home,’ Basil said to her, “at the end of the week. And we’re glad of it.’ “I am glad of it too,” answered Mary. “Where is home?” “She doesn’t know where home is!” said Basil, with seven- year-old scorn. “It’s England, of course…” (Burnett, 1983:14) At the same time, although England is ‘home’, this does not mean that England cannot be experienced by Mary as something unknown and new. Mary is introduced first as an arrival, an explorer of an unknown space (Kutzer, 2000:57), a crucial position that depends upon India as a familiar space. She then encounters England as a series of interlinked secrets, a labyrinth of mysteries, the most important of which is clearly the discovery of the forbidden garden of the title. The plot of the story is thus driven by a pulse of discovery that serves as the basis of the novel’s suspense and emotional development. India, although described as familiar (because it is where the protagonist was born and is the only place she knows), remains vague and obscure, for the most part only discernible in the dark, silent faces of Indian servants. The result is that, curiously, 1 © University of Pretoria this is a story about discovering ‘home’, that which ought to be the essence of what is familiar. Burnett’s tale of a little girl who travels to a new world, which is in fact her own world, approaches what J.R.R. Tolkien sees as one of the essential functions of fantasy literature: Recovery.

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