The Once and Future Hero: Understanding the Hero in Quest Fantasy
This paper examines the figure of the hero in Quest Fantasy novels, George R. R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. It employs Frye’s taxonomy for the categorization of genres and Bakhtin’s seminal ideas on the Epic and the Novel as references to analyse the charac...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research
2017-03-01
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Series: | Fafnir |
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Online Access: | http://journal.finfar.org/articles/the-once-and-future-hero-understanding-the-hero-in-quest-fantasy/ |
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author | Eduardo Lima |
author_facet | Eduardo Lima |
author_sort | Eduardo Lima |
collection | DOAJ |
description | This paper examines the figure of the hero in Quest Fantasy novels, George R. R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. It employs Frye’s taxonomy for the categorization of genres and Bakhtin’s seminal ideas on the Epic and the Novel as references to analyse the characterisation of the Quest Fantasy hero in selected Fantasy texts and compares them with two Heroic works, Beowulf and The Poetic Edda. This analysis is based on the premise that Fantasy fuses elements of the Epic and the novel in a dialogic tension that is manifest in the setting and in the characterisation of the hero. It starts by looking at the general understanding of the hero figure, especially in the Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse tradition. It then discusses how shifts in the way contemporary Western societies understand the world requires a new view of the hero. This is followed by an analysis of the narrative chronotope and its effects on the characterisation of the Quest Fantasy hero, from its beginnings to its journey into the adventurous world. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:01:06Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-beb0cce331554327851406e71f2d8cab |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2342-2009 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:01:06Z |
publishDate | 2017-03-01 |
publisher | Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research |
record_format | Article |
series | Fafnir |
spelling | doaj.art-beb0cce331554327851406e71f2d8cab2022-12-21T19:04:50ZengFinnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy ResearchFafnir2342-20092017-03-0141719The Once and Future Hero: Understanding the Hero in Quest FantasyEduardo Lima0 Brunel University LondonThis paper examines the figure of the hero in Quest Fantasy novels, George R. R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. It employs Frye’s taxonomy for the categorization of genres and Bakhtin’s seminal ideas on the Epic and the Novel as references to analyse the characterisation of the Quest Fantasy hero in selected Fantasy texts and compares them with two Heroic works, Beowulf and The Poetic Edda. This analysis is based on the premise that Fantasy fuses elements of the Epic and the novel in a dialogic tension that is manifest in the setting and in the characterisation of the hero. It starts by looking at the general understanding of the hero figure, especially in the Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse tradition. It then discusses how shifts in the way contemporary Western societies understand the world requires a new view of the hero. This is followed by an analysis of the narrative chronotope and its effects on the characterisation of the Quest Fantasy hero, from its beginnings to its journey into the adventurous world.http://journal.finfar.org/articles/the-once-and-future-hero-understanding-the-hero-in-quest-fantasy/characterisationchronotopedialoguequest fantasy |
spellingShingle | Eduardo Lima The Once and Future Hero: Understanding the Hero in Quest Fantasy Fafnir characterisation chronotope dialogue quest fantasy |
title | The Once and Future Hero: Understanding the Hero in Quest Fantasy |
title_full | The Once and Future Hero: Understanding the Hero in Quest Fantasy |
title_fullStr | The Once and Future Hero: Understanding the Hero in Quest Fantasy |
title_full_unstemmed | The Once and Future Hero: Understanding the Hero in Quest Fantasy |
title_short | The Once and Future Hero: Understanding the Hero in Quest Fantasy |
title_sort | once and future hero understanding the hero in quest fantasy |
topic | characterisation chronotope dialogue quest fantasy |
url | http://journal.finfar.org/articles/the-once-and-future-hero-understanding-the-hero-in-quest-fantasy/ |
work_keys_str_mv | AT eduardolima theonceandfutureherounderstandingtheheroinquestfantasy AT eduardolima onceandfutureherounderstandingtheheroinquestfantasy |