Fantasy Literature

“Intersubjectivity, Evil, and Moral Development in Ursula Le Guin's Gifts.”

by Beppie Keane

Expectations and Experiences: Children, Childhood, and Children's Literature.  Ed. Clare Bradford and Valerie Coghlan.  Pied Piper Publishing Ltd, 2007.  pp.146-56.

Of the Postmodernists' Party without knowing it: Philip Pullman, Hypermorality and Metanarratives

by Beppie Keane

Of the Postmodernists' Party without knowing it: Philip Pullman, Hypermorality and Metanarratives

by Beppie Keane

Place and displacement: determining a spiritual path in children's fantasy literature| Macquarie University ResearchOnline

by Beppie Keane

What symbols

by Dmitry Misyurov

This article contains 12 questions about the symbols. What are your thoughts in response? This article contains 12 questions about the symbols. What are your thoughts in response?

Immortal Longings and Mortal Repression - The Dark Romance Genre and Young Girls

by Hannah Love

submitted as part of my Mphil in Critical Approaches to Children's Literature

This study comprises of an exploration of the newly emerged ‘Dark Romance’ genre through the use of The Twilight Saga.... more This study comprises of an exploration of the newly emerged ‘Dark Romance’ genre through the use of The Twilight Saga. The Dark Romance novels are generally marketed at teenagers, but I address the decreasing age of the readership and explore the potential effects of such works on pre-adolescent female readers. In particular this thesis explores the possible impact of these texts on the readers’ sexual identity, and how any problems are exacerbated by the blend of genres found in the novels
The introduction provides a justification for a non-empirical research thesis and the necessary background information for the study; such as reading habits of young girls and the risk of identification, a discussion of the genres in Twilight, traditions in vampire literature, a clarification of terms regarding sexuality, and the research questions.

The first chapter addresses the presentation of sex and sexuality itself, using the theories of Michel Foucault as demonstrated in his History of Sexuality. Using J. A. Appleyard’s theory of reading stages, I then argue that the messages portrayed are all the more dangerous for young female readers experiencing literature as Appleyard suggests. The second chapter details the difficulties of identity formation for young girls, affected by their self perception and their interactions with others, using Robyn McCallum’s theory of ideology and identity, with particular reference to the Young Adult Elements of the Saga. The final chapter explores the Saga’s presentation of Bella’s escape from adolescence into a perfect, un-aging vampire, and the unattainable ideals that this portrays. I examine this using Jaques Lacan and Julia Kristeva’s theories of development along with Rosemary Jackson’s views regarding fantasy.
The conclusion explores what has been proved and its importance, as well as including suggestions of how the study could be developed further.

Geneza popularności Wiedźmina - interpretacje

by Mariusz Filip

Kultura Popularna 2(8)/2004: 95-103

Celem artykułu jest próba odpowiedzi na pytanie o przyczyny popularności postaci Wiedźmina. Argumentuję, że... more Celem artykułu jest próba odpowiedzi na pytanie o przyczyny popularności postaci Wiedźmina. Argumentuję, że interpretacja, wedle której Wiedźmin jest ułomnym supermanem, jest niewystarczająca. Wskazuję, że Wiedźmin posiada cechy Herosa, Ofiarnika, Mesjasza, Króla, Kata, które zbiegają się w postaci Szamana. Dowodzę, że Wiedźmin jest wariacją tego archetypu, przy czym jego sakralność została poddana materializacji.

Change of Seasons

by Trent Hergenrader

Originally appeared in Cicada Sept./Oct. 2006

Black Jack Davy

by Trent Hergenrader

Originally appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Apr 2007
Honorable Mention, The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror: 21st Annual Collection

The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter

by Trent Hergenrader

Honorable Mention, Best Horror of the Year #3

Lumooja, noita vai samaani?: Pohjoisen etnisyyden kuvauksia englanninkielisessä lastenfantasiakirjallisuudessa

by Sanna Lehtonen

Portti, 2011

Cosntruyendo un mundo de ficción: el prólogo de the lord of the rings

by antonio dominguez leiva

“It Had, Indeed, More Than Its Share of Pleasant Things”: Classical Allusion and Hope Mirrlees’ Lud-in-the-Mist.

by Liz Gloyn

Published in CA News 42 (2010): 12-15.

A brief exploration of classical themes in Hope Mirrlees' novel "Lud-in-the-Mist". A brief exploration of classical themes in Hope Mirrlees' novel "Lud-in-the-Mist".

Il Poeta che visse nella balena. L'opera poetica di Antonio Santori (Bozza di Introduzione all'Opera Omnia)

by Cesare Catà

Draft Only

Profilo ermeneutico e fonti dell'opera del poeta italiano Antonio Santori (Montreal, 1961 - Porto Civitanova, 2007) Profilo ermeneutico e fonti dell'opera del poeta italiano Antonio Santori (Montreal, 1961 - Porto Civitanova, 2007)

Desiring Social Transformation: Reordering Sexual Violence in Who Fears Death

by Hugo Joly-Morin

Onyesonwu, is a young teenage girl in the fictional African village of Jwahir. The entire region is divided by two... more Onyesonwu, is a young teenage girl in the fictional African village of Jwahir. The entire region is divided by two groups of people, the Okeke and the Nuru, who occupy very different stages of the social hierarchy. The Nuru people are bent on exterminating the Okeke people, basing their activities on the religious writings found in The Great Book. While they are mostly armed with knives and other different arms, their favorite weapon remains rape. They rape their way through all the Okeke women in an attempt to create Ewu children. These Ewu are unwanted children that are excluded by everyone. They use rape as a powerful tool of control.

Diverse Lessons: Cosmopolitanism and Fantasy Fiction Inside and Outside the Classroom

by Helen Young

Published in Education Without Borders: Diversity in a Cosmopolitan Society. Ed. Loshini Naidoo. Novascience, 2010

Education is not restricted to the formal, institutionalised processes associated with schools and universities, myths... more Education is not restricted to the formal, institutionalised processes associated with schools and universities, myths and ideologies – among other things – are also conveyed through culture; popular culture simultaneously transmits and shapes societal and cultural norms. Informal education is important, especially for children and young people as they absorb the culture around them. Unlike more conventionally ‘literary’ types of fiction, fantasy is popular, and thus can speak to and for the concerns and notions of large groups within society. Starting from these facts this chapter explores representations of diversity, racial and cultural difference in two popular fantasy worlds: J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Katharine Kerr’s epic ‘Deverry’ series. In both difference is mapped onto encounters between different species with different cultures, allowing exploration of diversity and difference in ‘safe’ imaginative space. Both authors create imaginative worlds where cosmopolitan societies are represented positively. This chapters argues that not only do these works, and others like them, provide positive models and thus contribute to education in and for a cosmopolitan society, but may also be of use in the classroom for the same reasons.

Diversity and Difference: Cosmopolitanism and Lord of the Rings.

by Helen Young

Published in: Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 21. 2 (2010): 351-365.

I mean, admittedly, it's not a haven for the brothers. You know, strictly the Caucasian persuasion in the 'Dale. -Mr.... more I mean, admittedly, it's not a haven for the brothers. You know, strictly the Caucasian persuasion in the 'Dale. -Mr. Trick, "Faith, Hope & Trick"

Mr Trick's aside might be a comment not just on Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sunnydale but on fantasy worlds in general; they are widely thought of as almost exclusively of the "Caucasian persuasion," lacking racial diversity in characters, themes, and structures and being exclusively concerned with white, Western culture. Indeed some works, such as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and film adaptations of it directed by Peter Jackson, have been accused of outright racism (Chism, "Race"). Charges of racism, and defenses against them, form a significant part of the scholarly literature and public discussions of representations of race in fantasy worlds (e.g., Rearick; Kirkland). A common perception is that most fantasy, like its sister genre science fiction, rarely addresses issues of racism and that minority readers are often not interested in it because it generally pays lip-service at best to such questions (Westfahl 72). Popular fantasy, however, often generates its narrative trajectory from encounters between different cultures and species. Further, its worlds are commonly populated by different, often mutually suspicious or inimical species such as elves, dwarves, humans, and goblins. Such generic features strongly suggest that an investigation of representations of racial and cultural difference might be illuminating.



Read more: http://periodicals.faqs.org/201009/2224380021.html#ixzz1jqRyTGQ3

Approaches to Medievalism: A Consideration of Taxonomy and Methodology through Fantasy Fiction (2010)

by Helen Young

Published in: Parergon, vol. 27.1 (2010).

Methodologies for examining medievalism commonly rely on considerations of a text's relationship with medieval... more Methodologies for examining medievalism commonly rely on considerations of a text's relationship with medieval sources, but such approaches are limited because they do not take into account the ways intervening years have influenced modern concepts of the Middle Ages. An approach which includes both the historical and imaginative 'medieval' and examines the purpose and effects of medievalism offers scope for more comprehensive interrogations. Investigation of modern fantasy writing such as the genre fiction of Katharine Kerr and the more literary works of Neil Gaiman demonstrates the usefulness of such a methodology.

… of the JRR Tolkien Centenary Conference, 1992: Proceedings of the Conference Held at Keble College, Oxford, England, 17th-24th August 1992 to …

by Pat Reynolds

‘Harsh to the Feet of Shadows’: The Wild Landscape of the Real in C. S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce and William Faulkner’s The Bear

by Alf Seegert

Published in the 2011 anthology 'C.S. Lewis and the Imaginative World'