How has fantasy as a genre been defined?
Instead of repeating the 5 definitions that Nic and Kelsey have already covered, I am going to focus more on how fantasy as a genre has been defined in general and it’s presence in “The Wizard of Earthsea”. Sorry it’s taken me so long but as they say, better late then never :)
I agree with Attebery’s statement (pg.3) that the Fantasy Genre is “any narrative which include as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law.” I also believe that Fantasy is defined as a genre because when the existence of magical powers is present and put in situations, the impossible appears possible to the readers/viewers. One example is ‘The Lord of the rings’ movies where the author has created human-like trees and fictional characters that live in a magical land. The readers/viewers logically know it is unreal and unnatural but a successful author will convince the audience to believe that it is possible in our own imaginary world when watching these movies.
“The Wizard of Earthsea” is labelled as an example of High Fantasy, the main reason being that there is a map to show the world (Wk 3 PowerPoint). I believe this story is a very good example of a fantasy world as Le Guin not only creates the illusion in our minds but also maintains it as there is always something unreal and imaginary happening. Maintaining a fantasy world is very important as Fantasy “need consistency. Reader and writer are committed to maintaining the illusion for the entire course of the fiction.” Attebery (1980, p.3). “The Wizard of Earthsea” shows a lot of illusions and fantasy throughout the whole story and all is based on the created world called Earthsea (shown in map at beginning). There is also magic portrayed when Ged constructs a new boat to get off the island he is stranded on as the boat is held together by magic. There are also fictional characters such as the little Otak that Ged meets.
Apart from all these fantasy aspects, there is some realism and authenticity in the story so that the readers stay interested and don’t fall out of the illusion.
References:
Attebery, B. (1980). Locating fantasy. In The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guinn. Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1980.
Le Guinn, U. (1993; 1968). A Wizard of Earthsea. In The Earthsea Quartet. London: Penguin.
Nice discussion Sarah (tho it'd be useful if you could respond to more than a single discussion thread. I especially like the fact that you're considering the previous posts when responding - gives a sense of continuity to the blog. You mention the 'realism' and 'authenticity' and also "maintaining the illusion" in The Wizard of Earthsea - can you give an example of these?
ReplyDeleteAlso good to see you referencing the powerpoint.