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Fantasy As a Popular Genre in the Works of J. R. R. Tolkien and J. K

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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 ................................................................................................................................................. 14 4.1 DEFINITION ............................................................................................................................................ 14 4.2 HISTORY ................................................................................................................................................ 17 4.3 CHARACTERISTICS AND FEATURES ......................................................................................................... 19 5 FANTASY ................................................................................................................................................... 25 5.1 CHARACTERISTICS AND FEATURES ......................................................................................................... 26 5.2 HISTORY ................................................................................................................................................ 31 6 THE NOVEL ............................................................................................................................................... 33 6.1 FEATURES .............................................................................................................................................. 34 6.2 NOVEL VS . ROMANCE ............................................................................................................................ 36 7 ‘ON FAIRY-STORIES’ ............................................................................................................................. 37 7.1 WHAT ARE FAIRY STORIES? ................................................................................................................... 38 7.2 WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF FAIRY STORIES ? ............................................................................................... 40 7.3 WHAT ARE THE MAIN FUNCTIONS OF FAIRY STORIES ?............................................................................ 41 8 THE LORD OF THE RINGS .................................................................................................................... 43 8.1 ROMANCE FEATURES ............................................................................................................................. 45 8.1.1. Plot ............................................................................................................................................... 45 8.1.2. Characters .................................................................................................................................... 49 8.1.3. Setting ........................................................................................................................................... 58 8.2 THE SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND OF MIDDLE EARTH ............................................................................... 61 8.3 THE PLOT PATTERN ............................................................................................................................... 67 8.4 OTHER ROMANCE FEATURES IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS ..................................................................... 70 9 HARRY POTTER STORIES .................................................................................................................... 76 9.1 FORMAL FEATURES ................................................................................................................................ 77 9.2 THEMATIC FEATURES ............................................................................................................................ 79 9.2.1 Plot ................................................................................................................................................ 79 9.2.2 Characters ..................................................................................................................................... 86 9.2.3 Setting ............................................................................................................................................ 87 9.2.4. Magic ............................................................................................................................................ 89 9.3 FAIRY TALE FEATURES IN HARRY POTTER STORIES .............................................................................. 93 9.4 OTHER FEATURES IN HARRY POTTER STORIES ...................................................................................... 98 10 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................... 106 11 SHRNUTÍ ................................................................................................................................................ 109 12 WORKS CITED ..................................................................................................................................... 110 12.1 PRIMARY SOURCES ............................................................................................................................ 110 12.2 SECONDARY SOURCES ....................................................................................................................... 110 12.3 ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND DICTIONARIES ................................................................................................. 112 12.4 WEB SITES .......................................................................................................................................... 113 4 1 Introduction Toclassifyunder what genre a literaryworkfits means tostate exactly the formal andthematic features of the workandtochoose a relevant genre label. It seems tobe easy. Probably,it is sobecause the definitionsupposes there is a certain set of rules givenfor eachgenreaswellasa setofdistinctfeatureseasilyobservedineveryliterarywork. However,inpractice,there are noclear-cut boundaries inliterarygenres or art in general.Categories anddefinitions are fluidandmerge together.Noworkof art originates from a perfectlycleanmindbecause nobodyis a pure tabularasa .The same system of interconnections works between author’s experience and existing art works and given structures andpatterns of the genres.It is natural to react tothose elements insome way. Andtheeffectoftheinteractionis a newworkofart. The results of this genre confusioncanbe seeninthe bookshops –the useless effort tobringorder intothe shelves.Apart from the practical sellingandmarketingcategories, suchas new books or bestsellers ,the books are organizedaccordingtotheir content (e.g. horrorstories,sciencefiction),orthetargetaudience(e.g.booksforchildren,women). This thesis deals with the vague sphere of genre classification as well. Its significant part is formedbya genre analysis.The genres discussed are romance,fantasy andnovel,andtheir connectiontotwoworks of popular literature –J.K.Rowling’s Harry PotterseriesandJ.R.R.Tolkien’strilogyThe Lordofthe Rings . The theoretical part of the thesis focus onthe definitionof a term ‘genre’; thenit covers brief summaries of definitions,typical features,and historyof the relevant genres – formulaic literature, romance, fantasy, and novel. It also mentions the theoretical backgroundof fairystories givenby Tolkien’s essay‘OnFairyStories’ whichis of great importancehere. 5 The analysis itself concerns both formal and thematic features of Harry Potter books and The Lordof the Rings ,andtheir relationship to the theoretical genres mentioned above. Due to the recent popularity of the fantasy genre, the literary qualities of both works are often discussed in terms both of form and content. Judging according to the structural features of the works, they are among novels. However, in the novelistic tradition theystandfor a low brow branchbecause of the schematic plot,flat characters andunoriginal motifs.In light of highbrow
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