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Racial Representation in Fantasy Literature

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Racial Representation in Fantasy Literature Université de Montréal Otherworldly Others : Racial Representation in Fantasy Literature Par John Henry Rumsby Département de Littératures et de Langues du Monde Faculté des Arts et des Sciences Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des Arts et des Sciences en vue d’obtention du grade de maîtrise (M.A.) en Études Anglaises Juin 2017 © John Henry Rumsby Abstract Despite nigh-limitless potential for worldbuilding and social representation, Fantasy literature has often been rightfully accused of being plagiaristic, unambitious, filled with racist narratives and themes. However, I would instead argue that the genre’s most defining generic characteristics and its history of pastiche are the best tools at Fantasy’s disposal to address concepts such as race or racism in a dignified way, or even with the intent of promoting social justice. Therefore, the goal of my thesis is both to legitimize Fantasy as an art form worthy of study and respect, all while proving how the elements and traditions that led the genre to earn its racist reputation can be used differently, in order to demolish discourses of racialization or institutionalized racism. The first half of the thesis will act as a critical examination of how Fantasy’s relationship to racial representation and racism has fluctuated over time, as well as explain why racism is so prevalent in this subset of popular literature. The second half consists of a creative writing project that will prove by example that Fantasy can be used to address race and racism without reinforcing discriminatory ideologies, nor appropriating pre-existing racial identity discourses. The theory portion of my thesis will illustrate how the genre’s racist lineage manifests itself within different narratives and historical periods, all while elaborating how Fantasy can involuntarily encourage racist ideologies, as an indirect result of the genre’s most defining elements. This part will then explain how these same generic trends can become the foundations of new narratives that reject or upend these same racist discourses. Finally, there will be a detailed summary of the intentions and strategies that informed the creative portion’s writing. The creative portion of the thesis aims to demonstrate how Fantasy literature can address race and racial representation, without over-simplifying the discussion, nor distancing it too much from real-world instances of racism. It is divided into four short stories set in the same imaginary “world”; each tale depicts the institutionalized racism that exists within this Fantasy world from the point of view of a character with unique racial identity challenges, both as an individual as member of a “Tribe”. Each chapter acts as a sort of “counter-narrative”, iii reconfiguring Fantasy literature’s unique generic characteristics that, normally, legitimize racisms from the real world, in order to examine, criticize and discredit these racisms instead. Keywords: Fantasy, Literature, Racism, Race, Racial Representation, Popular Culture, Creative Writing, Science-Fiction iv Résumé Malgré un potentiel quasiment illimité en ce qui concerne la création des mondes fictifs et la représentation sociale, la littérature « Fantasy » a souvent été accusée à juste titre d’être plagiaire, sans ambition et remplie de thèmes ou d’éléments narratifs racistes. Cependant, je disputerais plutôt que les caractéristiques les plus définissants du genre et son historique de pastiche sont les meilleurs outils à la disponibilité de la Fantasy pour adresser des concepts tels que la race ou le racisme de manière dignifiée, ou même avec l’intention de promouvoir la justice sociale. Ainsi, le but de ma thèse est de légitimiser la Fantasy comme forme d’art digne d’être étudiée et respectée, tout en prouvant comment les éléments et les traditions qui ont menés le genre à mériter sa réputation raciste peuvent être utilisés différemment, afin de démolir des discours de racialisation ou de racisme institutionnalisé. La première moitié de la thèse examinera de manière critique comment la relation de la Fantasy avec la représentation raciale et le racisme a fluctué à travers le temps, en plus d’expliquer pourquoi le racisme est aussi prévalent dans ce sous-ensemble de littérature populaire. La seconde moitié consiste d’un projet de création littéraire qui prouvera par exemple que la Fantasy peut être utilisée pour adresser la race ou le racisme sans renforcer des idéologies discriminatoires, ni approprier des discours d’identité raciales préexistantes. La portion théorique de ma thèse illustrera comment la lignée raciste du genre se manifeste à travers différents récits et périodes historiques, tout en élaborant comment la Fantasy peut involontairement encourager des idéologies racistes, le résultat indirect des éléments les plus définissants du genre. Cette partie expliquera ensuite comment ces mêmes tendances génériques peuvent devenir les fondements de nouveaux récits qui rejettent ou renversent ces mêmes discours racistes. Finalement, il y aura un résumé détaillé des intentions et des stratégies qui ont informées l’écriture de la portion créative. v La portion créative de la thèse vise à démontrer comment la littérature Fantasy peut adresser la race et la représentation raciale, sans vulgariser la discussion, ni trop la distancier d’instances de racisme réelles. Elle est divisée en quatre nouvelles littéraires situées dans le même « monde » imaginaire; chaque récit représente le racisme institutionalisé qui existe dans ce monde Fantasy du point de vue d’un personnage avec des défis uniques concernant l’identité raciale, en tant qu’individu et que membre d’une « Tribu ». Chaque chapitre se propose comme « anti-récit », reconfigurant les caractéristiques génériques uniques de la littérature Fantasy qui, normalement, légitiment des racismes provenant du monde réel, afin d’examiner, de critiquer, et de discréditer ces mêmes racismes. Mots-clés: Fantasy, Littérature, Racisme, Race, Représentation raciale, Culture populaire, Création littéraire, Science-Fiction vi Table of Contents Abstract / Résumé…………………………………………………………………………....p.iii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………p.vii Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………...p.1 Theory Portion: Racial Representat.ion in Fantasy Literature………………………………...p.8 “Understanding Fantasy”……………………………………………………………..p.9 “Mechanisms of Hatred”…………………………………………………………….p.12 “Fantasy Racism and Scientific Racism”…………………………………………….p.14 “What has been Broken by Fantasy, Can be Reforged by Fantasy”………………….p.18 “The Skeleton of the Genre has Skeletons in the Closet”…………………………….p.24 “The Fall and Rise of Imagination”………………………………………………….p.27 “Welcoming Fear of the Unknown”…………………………………………………p.30 “The Inauguration of a Legacy”……………………………………………………...p.33 “Disillusioned Illusions – The Great War and Weird Tales”…………………………p.35 “The Birth of a Messiah”…………………………………………………………….p.39 “At the Borders of Middle-Earth”……………………………………………………p.41 “The Good, the Bad, and the Ignored”……………………………………………….p.44 “A Humiliating Lineage”…………………………………………………………….p.47 “Weird Tales’ Racist Comeback and its Misogynistic Followers”…………………...p.51 “Roll a d20 to Proceed: Critical Fail”………………………………………………...p.53 “Revolution in Elfland”……………………………………………………………...p.55 vii “A Brief Note on Theorizers of the Inexistent”………………………………………p.59 “The Dream Lives On”………………………………………………………………p.61 “A Second Coming of New Voices”…………………………………………………p.63 “Boy Wizards, and the Benefits Thereof”……………………………………………p.65 “Reclaiming the Past”………………………………………………………………..p.68 “Explaining the ‘Chapters of the Pale’”……………………………………………...p.70 Creative Portion: Chapters of the Pale……………………………………………………….p.75 “First Chapter: Inheritance”………………………………………………………….p.76 “Second Chapter: Confession”………………………………………………………p.98 “Third Chapter: Remembrance”……………………………………………………p.120 “Fourth Chapter: Change”………………………………………………………….p.145 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………p.175 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………….p.182 viii Introduction In the realm of popular culture, few literary genres are at once as beloved and despised as that of Fantasy. Science-Fiction has earned something of a noble status thanks to authors like Mary Shelley and Isaac Asimov, tales of Horror by Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King are often cited as prime examples of literature’s power to induce affect, and fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson are famous as masterpieces of children’s literature, all while being among the most taught and researched works in academia today…But, apart perhaps for the likes of Tolkien, oeuvres that bear the name of “Fantasy” have rarely been privy to this kind respect. If anything, scholars, institutions and authors with “high literature” aspirations avoid the label like the plague, often offering contrived excuses so as to explain why some of literature’s most phenomenal, imagination-centric texts, are not deserving of this label1…Clearly, the genre’s name alone carries unsavory reputations in certain circles. However, despite longstanding reputations of catering only to “comfort zone” entertainment seekers, and of producing naught but unambitious, plagiaristic reiterations of past works, Fantasy stands tall as one of the most popular, experimental and influential forms of fiction today, be it in the form of books, films, comics, video games or television. Frequently dismissed as popcorn entertainment incapable of eliciting affect or studying the human condition by supporters of the “high-literature versus low-literature” dichotomy,
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