1) How is science fiction different from fantasy, according to Le Guinn?
2) How does Attebery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least five definitions?
3) In what ways does Tax (2002) suggest Earthsea may still be relevant today?
4) What are some archetypes that often recur in fantasy fiction? Give examples from Earthsea and other fantasy works you might know.
5) In what way is The Wizard of Earthsea a ‘coming of age’ novel? Does it escape from the ‘boy’s own adventure’ story? How are Ged’s adventures different from Tintin’s?
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ReplyDelete2) How does Attebery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least five definitions?
ReplyDeleteAttebery (1980) takes a definition from W.R. Irwin that there is a prime feature of fantasy and if it goes without it, the work is impossible to be fantasy; this definition is ‘an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility”. Moreover, W.R. Irwin states any narrative is a fantasy as long as it implements the creation of impossibility. Furthermore, fantasy then can be an assumption of views that exceeds beyond the reality that goes on to become contradictive. According to Attebery (1980), any particular narrative that proclaims the nature of fantasy has to have the existence of impossible characters, scenes, event, and objects such likes dragons, horses that fly, castles and possessive voices and sounds.
Brian Attebery's "strategies of fantasy" include not only the writer's strategies for inventing believable impossibilities, but also the reader's strategies for enjoying, challenging, and conspiring with the text. Drawing on a number of current literary theories (but avoiding most of their jargon), Attebery makes a case for fantasy as a significant movement within postmodern literature rather than as a simple exercise of nostalgia. Attebery examines recent and classic fantasies by Ursula K. Le Guin, John Crowley, J. R. R. Tolkien, Diana Wynne Jones, and Gene Wolfe, among others. In both its popular and postmodern incarnations, fantastic fiction exhibits a remarkable capacity for reinventing narrative conventions. Attebery shows how plots, characters, settings, storytelling frameworks, gender divisions, and references to cultural texts such as history and science are all called into question the moment the marvelous is admitted into a story. In the early chapters, the author sorts out some of the confusion about the term fantasy, distinguishing the fantastic as a technique from fantasy as a popular formula and a literary genre. Looking back to the early reception of Tolkien's trend-setting epic fantasy, he points out how critical theory at the time was simply unable to account for either the strengths or the weaknesses of The Lord of the Rings. By contrast, critical methods developed for coping with postmodernist metafiction are shown to apply equally well to the genre of fantasy. Having worked primarily with older fantasies in his study of The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature, Attebery focuses here on important recent examples such as Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Suzette Haden Elgin's Ozark Trilogy, and John Crowley's Little, Big. Analysis of these texts shows not only that fantasy scholarship can learn from contemporary theory, but also that a close look at fantasy can overturn common assumptions about the nature of narrative. Rather than drawing definitive boundaries for the genre, Attebery proposes a description of fantasy as a "fuzzy set" a grouping based on perceived resemblance to one or more central examples rather than on any particular features shared by the whole set.
In a way, fantasy greatly differs from science fiction, the fantasy genre which works to persuade the reader that things which seem impossible are actually scientifically possible. The stories created through fantasy have their own internal laws which cannot be destroyed. Furthermore, Attebery also mention that “fantasy, then, presuppose a view of exterior reality which it goes on to contradict.
And Attebery knows that it is necessary to insist on the consistency of the construct in fantasy, he indicates that the consistency of illusion should be maintained by the writer as well as the readers. He calls this kind of engagement as “a game of sorts”. That means, if the readers enthusiastically engage in this game following the terms of the game, they would get the unexpected pleasure from the scene of “wonder”.
-Reference.
Manlove, 1975, as cited in Attebery, 1980, p.3) “Strategies of fantasy book”
(Total 152 page: P16,26,31. Page:33(Belief, Legend, Romance) Page109(Fantasy and esape)
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ReplyDeleteScience fiction pretends that the future is the present or the past and then tells the story right after. The reason of this is the future is a blank page which gives writers a chance to use their imagination to write their story. According to Le Guinn (2005) Fantasy is far more direct in its fictionality than either realism or science fictions. This is because it contract with the reader in a different way, and it also does not have an agreement to pretend that its story happened, might have happened, or might ever happen. Fantasy deliberately violates the plausibility of its agreement with the world outside the story. Characters in fantasy generally meets the conventional expectations, but the character does not have to be human it can be anything depending on the writers imagination. (examples like elves and orgs on Lord of the rings). The constitute of the plausibility in fantasy is the coherence of the story, its consistent self reference Le Guinn (2005).
ReplyDeleteLe Guinn, U. (2005). Plausibility Revisited. Retrieved from http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html
Week 3 & 4
ReplyDeleteHow is science fiction different from fantasy, according to Le Guinn?
Science fiction is something that tries to convince the readers that things that are impossible are explainable. Whereas fantasy needs to be read consistently in order to maintain the illusion throughout the entire course of the fiction. Attebery (1980) defines ‘fantasy’ as a genre, structure, a state of mind and a technique that treats an impossibility as if it were true.
What are some archetypes that often recur in fantasy fiction? Give examples from Earthseas and other fantasy works you might know.
Archetypes like ‘wise old man, shadow, animal, maiden, hero’ are some that often occur in fantasy fiction.
The wise old man occurs in Earthseas, Ogion matches the characteristics. Ogion becomes somewhat a father figure for Gont, taking him as his apprentice and training him, as well as renaming him his true name Ged. In the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf is a wise old man, he helps guide Frodo on his journey on destroying the ring.
The shadow also occurs in Earthsea as well, Ged goes on a search to defeat the Shadow whom which he had released.
The animal archetype is important element of fantasy stories. Ged’s animal is a sparrow, Ged is also referred to as Sparrowhawk. In The Lord of the Rings it is Gandalf’s horse. In Harry Potter’s series it is Voldemorts snake, as well as each student caring for an animal, Harry had an owl.
In using archetypes in fantasy, it is important that they show up naturally and help unfold the story.
Attebery, B. (1980). The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press
M, Peake. (2004). Archetypes in Fantasy Writing. Retrieved from
http://fantasyguide.stormthecastle.com/fantasyguide_essays/archetypes-in-fantasy-writing-by-marilyn-peake.htm