Fantasy, Politics, Postmodernity

Fantasy, Politics, Postmodernity PDF

Author: Andrew Rayment

Publisher: Rodopi

Published: 2014-06-15

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9401211000

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“The books are true while reality is lying...” Championing the popular Fantasy genre on the same terms as its readers, Rayment casts a critical eye over the substance and methods of political critique in the Fantasy novels of Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman and China Miéville. Ranging across subjects as diverse as exquisite fundamentalism and revolutionary trains, encountering pervert-priests, dwarf hermaphrodites and sex-scarred lovers and pondering the homicidal tendencies of fairy tales and opera, Fantasy, Politics, Postmodernity develops a theoretically wide-ranging and illuminating account of how the novels of these writers do and do not sustain politically insightful critique of the real world, while bringing intellectual and ethical concerns to bear on the popular Fantasy form.

Ellipse of Uncertainty

Ellipse of Uncertainty PDF

Author: Lance Olsen

Publisher: Praeger

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13:

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This fascinating study of literary theory is the first work of its kind to examine the intersection of fantasy and postmodernism, and to analyze contemporary fantasy writers comparatively. After carefully developing working definitions of postmodernism and fantasy, the author goes on to analyze works by various postmodernist fantasy writers. Olsen's approach is eclectic, bringing to each text or textual complex those forces he feels most interestingly stir up its sediment--be they biographical, structural, psychoanalytic, philosophical, reader-response, or otherwise. Finally he argues that postmodern fantasy is the literary equivalent of deconstructionism, for it interrogates all we take for granted about language and experience, giving these no more than shifting and provisional status. It may be seen as a mode of radical skepticism that believes only in the possiblilty of total intelligibility.

The Way of Kings

The Way of Kings PDF

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2014-03-04

Total Pages: 1013

ISBN-13: 0765376679

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A new epic fantasy series from the New York Times bestselling author chosen to complete Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time® Series

The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature

The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature PDF

Author: Edward James

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-01-26

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1107493730

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Fantasy is a creation of the Enlightenment, and the recognition that excitement and wonder can be found in imagining impossible things. From the ghost stories of the Gothic to the zombies and vampires of twenty-first-century popular literature, from Mrs Radcliffe to Ms Rowling, the fantastic has been popular with readers. Since Tolkien and his many imitators, however, it has become a major publishing phenomenon. In this volume, critics and authors of fantasy look at its history since the Enlightenment, introduce readers to some of the different codes for the reading and understanding of fantasy, and examine some of the many varieties and subgenres of fantasy; from magical realism at the more literary end of the genre, to paranormal romance at the more popular end. The book is edited by the same pair who produced The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (winner of a Hugo Award in 2005).

Ellipse of Uncertainty

Ellipse of Uncertainty PDF

Author: Lance Olsen

Publisher: Praeger

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0313255113

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This fascinating study of literary theory is the first work of its kind to examine the intersection of fantasy and postmodernism, and to analyze contemporary fantasy writers comparatively. After carefully developing working definitions of postmodernism and fantasy, the author goes on to analyze works by various postmodernist fantasy writers. Olsen's approach is eclectic, bringing to each text or textual complex those forces he feels most interestingly stir up its sediment--be they biographical, structural, psychoanalytic, philosophical, reader-response, or otherwise. Finally he argues that postmodern fantasy is the literary equivalent of deconstructionism, for it interrogates all we take for granted about language and experience, giving these no more than shifting and provisional status. It may be seen as a mode of radical skepticism that believes only in the possiblilty of total intelligibility.

Critiquing Postmodernism in Contemporary Discourses of Race

Critiquing Postmodernism in Contemporary Discourses of Race PDF

Author: S. Kim

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2009-11-23

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 0230103960

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Critiquing Postmodernism in Contemporary Discourses of Race challenges the critical emphasis on otherness in treatments of race in literary and cultural studies. Sue J. Kim deftly argues that this treatment not only perpetuates narrow identity politics, but obscures the political and economic structures that shape issues of race in literary studies. Kim s revelatory book shows how reading authors through their identity ends up neglecting both complex historical contexts and aesthetic forms. This comparative study calls for a reconsideration of the bases for critical engagement and a reading ethics that melds the best of historicist and formalist approaches to literature.

The Politics of Postmodernism

The Politics of Postmodernism PDF

Author: Linda Hutcheon

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-12-16

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 113446519X

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Working through the issue of representation, in art forms from fiction to photography, Linda Hutcheon sets out postmodernism's highly political challenge to the dominant ideologies of the western world.

Postmodernism For Beginners

Postmodernism For Beginners PDF

Author: Jim Powell

Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser

Published: 2007-08-21

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1939994195

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If you are like most people, you’re not sure what Postmodernism is. And if this were like most books on the subject, it probably wouldn’t tell you. Besides what a few grumpy critics claim, Postmodernism is not a bunch of meaningless intellectual mind games. On the contrary, it is a reaction to the most profound spiritual and philosophical crisis of our time – the failure of the Enlightenment. Jim Powell takes the position that Postmodernism is a series of “maps” that help people find their way through a changing world. Postmodernism For Beginners features the thoughts of Foucault on power and knowledge, Jameson on mapping the postmodern, Baudrillard on the media, Harvey on time-space compression, Derrida on deconstruction and Deleuze and Guattari on rhizomes. The book also discusses postmodern artifacts such as Madonna, cyberpunk, Buddhist ecology, and teledildonics.

Fantasy City

Fantasy City PDF

Author: John Hannigan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-07-20

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1134747012

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Fantasy City analyses the post-industrialist city as a site of entertainment. By discussing examples from a wide variety of venues, including casinos, malls, heritage developments and theme parks, Hannigan questions urban entertainments economic foundations and historical background. He asks whether such areas of fantasy destroy communities or instead create new groupings of shared identities and experiences. The book is written in a student friendly way with boxed case studies for class discussion.