Preview

Policing Fantasy: Problems of Genre in Fantasy Literature

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
29854 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Policing Fantasy: Problems of Genre in Fantasy Literature
Policing Fantasy:
Problems of Genre in Fantasy Literature

By Svein Angelskår

A Thesis Presented to The Department of Literature Area Studies and European Languages The University of Oslo In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the MA Degree Autumn Term 2005

2

Table of Contents:
TABLE OF CONTENTS:......................................................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................5 GENERAL GENRE THEORY.............................................................................................................9 GENRE AND TERMINOLOGY ..................................................................................................................9 THE DEVELOPMENT OF GENRES AND FANTASY THEORY .....................................................................15 THE PROBLEMS OF CHANGE, DEFINITION AND GENERIC SYSTEMS .......................................................18 GENERIC SYSTEMS AND THE TRAPPINGS OF GENERIC DISCOURSE .......................................................25 FANTASY THEORY AND FANTASY THEORISTS......................................................................31 TWO GROUPS OF THEORISTS ...............................................................................................................33 TZVETAN TODOROV ...........................................................................................................................36 ROSEMARY JACKSON .........................................................................................................................41 CHRISTINE BROOKE-ROSE..................................................................................................................52 COLIN N. MANLOVE



Bibliography: -Apter, T. E. Fantasy literature: An Approach to Reality. London: The Macmillan Press, 1982. -Attebery, Brian. The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. -Barthelme, Donald. Sixty Stories. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. -Barthelme, Donald. Snow White. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1996. -Bould, Mark. ‘The Dreadful Credibility of Absurd Things: A Tendency in Fantasy Theory.’ Historical Materialism. 4 (2002): 51-88. - Bourdieu, Pierre. The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1993. -Brooke-Rose, Christine. A Rhetoric of the Unreal: Studies in Narrative and Structure, Especially of the Fantastic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 1981. -Croce, Benedetto. ‘Criticism of the Theory of Artistic and Literary Kinds.’ Modern Genre Theory. Ed. David Duff. Harlow: Longman, 2000. 25-28. -Davidson, H. R. Ellis. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1988. -Derrida, Jacques. ‘The Law of Genre.’ Modern Genre Theory. Ed. David Duff. Harlow: Longman, 2000. 219-231. -Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The Gambler/ Bobok/ A Nasty Story. London: Penguin Classics, 1966. -Duff, David, ed. Modern Genre Theory. Harlow: Longman, 2000. -Eliade, Mircea. Myth and Reality. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1964. 99 -Feist, Raymond E. Fairy Tale. New York: Bantam Books, 1989. -Fowler, Alastair. ‘The Formation of Genres in the Renaissance and After.’ New Literary History; Spring 2003; 34, 2. 185-200. -Fowler, Alastair. Kinds of Literature: An Introduction to the Theory of Genres and Modes. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1982. -Frye, Northrop. ‘The Mythos of Summer: Romance.’ Modern Genre Theory. Ed. David Duff. Harlow: Longman, 2000. 98-117. -Gould, Eric. Mythical Intentions in Modern Literature. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1981. -Grundtvig, N. F. S. Nordens Mythologi. København: Samlerens Forlag, 1983. -Hoffmann, E. T. A. Tales of Hoffmann. London: Penguin Books, 2004. -Hume, Kathryn. Fantasy and Mimesis: Responses to Reality in Western Literature. New York: Methuen, 1984. -Jackson, Rosemary. Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion. London: Methuen, 1981. -James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers. London: Penguin Classics, 1984. -LeGuin, Ursula K. The Language of the Night. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1979. -Manlove, C. N. From Alice to Harry Potter: Children’s Fantasy in England. Christchurch: Cybereditions, 2003. -Manlove, C. N. Modern Fantasy: Five Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975. -Manlove, C. N. The Fantasy Literature of England. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 1999. -Manlove, C. N. The Impulse of Fantasy Literature. London: The Macmillan Press, 1983. 100 -Monleón, José B. A Specter is Haunting Europe: A Sociohistorical Approach to the Fantastic. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1990. -Mathews, Richard. Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination. New York: Routledge, 2002. -Opacki, Ireneusz. ‘Royal Genres.’ Trans. David Malcolm. Modern Genre Theory. Ed. David Duff. Harlow: Longman, 2000. 118-126. Richardson, Brian. ‘The Master Narrative of Modern Literary History and the Lost Forms of Twentieth Century Fiction.’ Literature Online. 7 October 2005. -Rabkin, Eric S. The Fantastic in Literature. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1976. - Schaeffer, Jean-Marie. ‘Literary Genres and Textual Genericity.’ The Future of Literary Theory. Ed. Ralph Cohen. New York: Routledge, 1989. -Shippey, T. A. The Road to Middle-Earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology. London: Grafton, 1992. -Suvin, Darko. ‘Considering the Sense of “Fantasy” or “Fantastic Fiction”: An Effusion.’ Extrapolation; Fall 2000; 41, 3. 209-247 -Todorov, Tzvetan. The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre. Ithaca: Cornell University press, 1975. -Tymn, Marshall B, et al. Fantasy Literature: A Core Collection And Reference Guide. New York: R.R. Bowker Co., 1978. -Weis, Margaret, Tracy Hickman. Dragon Wing. New York: Bantam Books, 1990. - Weis, Margaret, Tracy Hickman. Elven Star. New York: Bantam Books, 1991. -Williams, Tad. Otherland, Volume One: City og Golden Shadow. London: Legend, 1996. -Williams, Tad. Otherland, Volume Two: River of Blue Fire. London: Orbit, 1999. 101 -Williams, Tad. Otherland, Volume Three: Mountain of Black Glass. London: Orbit, 2000. -Williams, Tad. Otherland, Volume Four: Sea of Silver Light. London: Orbit, 2001. -Wolfe, Gene. The Book of the New Sun, Volume 1: Shadow and Claw. London: Gollancz, 2004. -Wolfe, Gene. The Book of the New Sun, Volume 2: Sword and Citadel. London: Gollancz, 2004. 102

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    1 RYERSON UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH English 108: Introduction to Fiction W2015 Instructor: Dr. M. Tschofen Office: JOR 1005 Office Hours: by appointment: Mondays: 10:00-­‐11:00 Emails: Professor: Monique.tschofen@ryerson.ca TAs: Amy Loys: Amy.Loyst@ryerson.ca, Nick White: n8white@ryerson.ca • Emails will only be accepted from @ryerson.ca accounts • Put ENG 108 in subject line and allow 2 days for a reply • Please use email only after you have first checked the syllabus, Blackboard, and assignment instructions. TA and prof office hours are best for complex queries. • Questions should be sent to TAs first; they will forward unanswered concerns to the course professor.…

    • 1988 Words
    • 73 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    always been known to create literary works where the characters live in a world of fantasy, and…

    • 2510 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Graveyard Book Themes

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Deciding if a work literature is fantasy proves to be a daunting task for any scholar. There are plenty of elements, themes, and motifs that furnish the fantasy genre as a whole, and Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book without question encompasses a number of these. Through the lens of magic, the battle of good versus evil, and the presence of hope The Graveyard Book delivers a taste of fantasy literature, while also supporting the elements of the new mythology for global humanity by rediscovering harmony, bridging the past with the future.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: Kennedy, X.J., and Dana Gioia, eds. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Fourth Compact Edition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Flipping through the hundreds of pages in the Norton Sampler lead me to a beautiful story, that most would find too fantasy for the adult imagination. Although, my adult imagination pieced together the images in this story and made it clear that it is an overlooked treasure. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, contains many important qualities that a child, although it is a more childlike tale, would overlook. These hidden symbols are what paint a clear, in the fantasy and make believe. These symbols are the qualities developed the tale in an organized piece of fiction. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is an example of a fantasy tale being a perfect work of fiction by developing hidden symbols, themes, and a well defined setting within the creativity that explains how one or more elements help evaluate the piece within its historical contexts.…

    • 1248 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Antigone - 13

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Bibliography: 1. Gillespie, Sheena and Fonseca, Terezinha and Sanger, Carol A.-3rd ed. (2001).Literature across cultures, Allyn & Bacon, Antigone 953-981…

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Giants in Time

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Frye uses this lecture to reinforce the idea that literature immortalizes characters and is conventional in nature. Also, he stresses the importance of imagination in literature and the importance of the imaginative nature of literature. "The world of imagination is a world of unborn or embryonic beliefs; if you believe what you read in literature, you can, quite literally, believe anything."3 In understanding the imaginative quality in literary works and the ideas behind them, allegory and allusion play an important role to the…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Lycanthropy Analysis

    • 2508 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The word “fantasy” conjures images of free-spirited pixies, magical creatures, new worlds, and ideas of magic that do not exist in the world as we know it. Our association with fantasy lumps it together with escapism, the idea that we can leave our world for a fantastic one. But as literary theorist Rosemary Jackson points out in her work, Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion, the realm of the fantastic is often a mirror of our own, dealing with the social and political issues that we are faced with today. However, she argues that many works of popular fantasy literature often fail to highlight the social and political issues within them because they provide an ending that does not…

    • 2508 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, refers to plot-driven fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. Genre fiction is generally distinguished from literary fiction. Fiction is mainly known as literature in the form of prose, especially short stories and novels, that describes imaginary events and people. Fiction is an out for two people: the reader, and the author. It allows the reader to escape from their reality and engulf themselves in a fantasy world. It helps to calm their worries. Or getaway from them for the time being. For the author, fiction allows them to put out their feelings by putting them into a fantastical…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    By fusing different speculative genres- science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism- with traditional African and Caribbean folk tales, historical narratives, ancient Greco-Roman myths and Christian fables, Hopkinson’s writing relates to a multiplicity that cannot be circumscribed within a coherent generic paradigm. The key word on Marinkova’s explanation is “multiplicity”, because it is the technique that Hopkinson and also Morrison use to deal with those events that have never been rendered in historical accounts. An erasure of the boundaries of genre categories is needed by the struggle to name and resignify experiences that have been left outside the central dominating centres of codification. Speculative Fiction combines, in a creative fashion, elements from different genres.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Wasp Factory Analysis

    • 4701 Words
    • 19 Pages

    If it is appropriate to define “ideology” as that which constitutes social, cultural, and political order, then perhaps it can be said that as a genre, the Gothic paradoxically both challenges and reinforces the stability of these seemingly “fixed” structures and, similarly, that it both disturbs and reifies what one deems “normal” or “natural” in western industrial society. In this way, the Gothic functions as both a noun and a verb, and can be equated to Queer Theory in that it “queers” heteronormative “truth” claims. The Gothic may…

    • 4701 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reading is such a strange concept. People are willingly staring at a piece of deconstructed wood that has been pressed thin, and they continually try to decipher scribbles that are written on it by graphite from a writing device. By themselves, the scribbles slowly begin to form into words, and as a whole, the scribbles that have formed into words can now be read in its entirety and be grouped into a category or genre that it may fall under. For example, the book, Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (an award winning novel and movie), is a beautifully written piece of work for people of all ages, and it can be categorized as a fantasy because of his main character’s unusual interactions, intelligence, and human-like characteristics.…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Rebecca O' Reilly 14154722 Professor Christina Morin Gothic Literature EH4121 16th October 2014 Essay 3: Castle of Otranto: Theory of the Sublime The theory of the sublime is something that has a strong emergence, adaption, revision and contestation in Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto that is presented in a manner in regards to the actual elements that form the "gothic."…

    • 1944 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Secondary Sources Borden, Richard C. “H.G. Wells ' ‘Door in the Wall’ in Russian Literature.” The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 36, No. 3 (autumn, 1992). 323-338. Dickson, Lovat. H.G. Wells – His Turbulent Life and Times. London: Macmillan, 1969. Gardner, Martin. "H(erbert) G(eorge) Wells." Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner 's Sons, 1985. Hammond, John R. An H.G. Wells Companion. London: The MacMillan Press, 1979. Hauer Costa, Richard. H.G Wells, Revised Edition. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985. Haynes, Roslynn D. H.G. Wells: Discoverer of the Future – The Influence of Science on His Thought. London: New York UP, 1980. Hyde, William J. “The Socialism of H.G. Wells in the Early Twentieth Century.” Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 17, No 2. (Apr. 1956). 217-234. Parrinder, Patrick. “The Comedy of Limitation.” H.G. Wells, A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Bernard Bergonzi. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976. Silver, Carole G. Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Scuriatti, Laura. ”A Tale of Two Cities: H.G. Wells’s ‘A Door in the Wall’.” The Wellsian. 22 (winter, 1999) 11-28. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Joseph Palmisano. Vol 70. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 11-28. Ward, Alfred C. "H. G. Wells." Aspects of the Modern Short Story: English and American. University of London Press, 1924. 139-141. Rpt. in Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 139-141. Williams, Deborah. “An Overview of ‘The Door in the Wall’.” Exploring Short Stories. Gale Online Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale, Literature Resource Centre. Linköpings Universitetsbibliotek 1 Sept. 2008. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LitRC&u=link…

    • 14728 Words
    • 59 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hur Man-Ook (2011). A study on the narrative Strategic and development plan of the Fantasy literature, in the cultural contents industry. The study of Korean Literature, 32, 427-456.…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics