Building Coherent Fantasy Worlds: Taoism and Earthsea
BUILDING COHERENT FANTASY WORLDS: TAOISM AND EARTHSEA by Jasper Henderson Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Antioch University Los Angeles Summer/Fall 2018 I certify that this documents fulfills the requirements for the critical paper in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, Antioch University Los Angeles ____________________________________ ______________________________ Sarah Van Arsdale, Affiliate Faculty Date ____________________________________ ______________________________ Steve Heller, Program Chair Date Building Coherent Fantasy Worlds: Taoism and Earthsea Outside my window a Steller’s jay jumps off a tan oak branch and flies, wing-flit, wing- flit, to a perch in a mossy rhododendron. He never sits still for too long. He jeers, “Jeer, jeer, jeer.” My cat and I look up to see a raven soaring overhead. The raven is black, the jay a darkly iridescent blue, the day foggy and gray. I am sitting at my computer, writing a piece of literary criticism about balance and deep unity in worlds. The cat cleans herself and then notices, for a moment, the screen. The words march around like so many insects. She seems curious why I stare at them so much. But not that curious; the scene outside soon reclaims her attention. I have written this paper for you, dear reader, because I wanted to deepen and share my understanding of how Ursula K. Le Guin writes fiction. Few writers have captured my imagination and admiration as much as she has. By her death in January 2018, Le Guin had published twenty-four novels, twelve short story collections, nine collections of poetry, four book-length poetry translations, and seven collections of criticism.
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