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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ReplyDeleteMy first impression of the ‘Legend of Earthsea’ series was that it felt like a sad attempt at a mid-evil drama about magic, sex and power. The film was completely unconvincing and painful to watch as I assumed Le Guin’s story was supposed to be as child friendly, adventurous, and thought provoking as the Harry Potter or Narnia fantasy films. Having read the book after, my thoughts on the mini-series only grew worse and I was really disappointed at how far they had strayed from Le Guin's story. It’s a real pity because I enjoyed imagining Ged grow in wisdom, power, and magic skills in the book – the journey from an ordinary impatient young boy to a humbled and heroic young man. Ged’s struggle with his literal dark side (the Shadow) and choices between good and evil when in a position of great power is what I felt was the heart of Le Guin’s story. The series overshadowed this with the unnecessary addition of characters and storylines.
ReplyDelete1) How is science fiction different from fantasy, according to Le Guinn?
According to Le Guinn, science fiction is different to fantasy based on the instances that some science fiction are reinventions of the past or pretend that the future is the present or the past. She says that science fiction treats “the future” like a blank canvas where they can write anything in it and I believe this is mostly due to the endless possibilities that come with the unforeseen future. It is probably the reason why she also states that science fiction tends to avoid writing in the present time. Science fiction is written as though it is fact. Atterbury (1980) reiterates this idea in saying that ‘Science fiction spends much of its time convincing the reader that its seeming impossibilities are in fact explainable if we extrapolate from the world and the science we know.’ I found Le Guinn’s explanation of science fiction to be true through the 1987 science fiction novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood. It displayed examples of what Le Guinn mentioned, as:
• The story was set in a not-so-distant future.
• Story plays off of possible future scenarios:
o Fertility is heavily effected by pollution and mass outbreak of incurable STDs.
o Religious extremist group taking over the government.
o Women’s rights are completely stripped from them
o Fertile woman taken as ‘Handmaids’ for leaders solely for reproduction purposes
• An epilogue set in the year 2195 of a class lecture discussing the events in chapters before as though a real part of American History.
With fantasy, Le Guinn explains that it is far more direct about its fictionality. It is totally made up and unlike Science fiction it does not try to convince the reader that the events in the story actually took place. There is unexplainable magic and wonder. Readers usually will go into reading a fantasy with the understanding that there is no possibility of its world, events, and characters having ever existed/will exist. Examples of the theories raised by Le Guinn can be found in the ‘A Wizard of Earthsea’:
• Invented world of Earthsea - a fictional place of magic, wizards, witches and dragons.
• Invented races and villages (e.g. Gont).
• Invented creatures (e.g. otaks).
• Invented evils and power (e.g. the Shadow).
• The invented Wizard school of Roke.
Atterbury (1980) points out that fantasy requires a willing reader that is able to let go of everything they know that is practical or fathomable in the world to really engage with the ‘wonders’ of fantasy.
In conclusion, my understanding of the main difference between science fiction and fantasy is that science fiction explores explainable possibilities while fantasy thrives on the unexplainable wonders of the magical and mystical.
References
Atterbery, B. (1980) The fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin. Bloomington, Indiana. University Press.
Atterbery’s definitions of fantasy:
Extract: Attebery, B..
nice answer. i like your intro and the use of bullet points. try and reference something other than Atterbery. and unpack your summery of Earthsea a bit to show your knowledge of the text.
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DeleteApologies, the other reference that should have been there is: Le Guin. U.K. (2005) Plausibility Revisited
DeleteWha Hoppen and What Didn't. Retrieved 9 August, 2017, from http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html
4)What are some archetypes that often recur in fantasy fiction? Give examples from Earthsea and other fantasy works you might know.
ReplyDeleteI had watched many fantasy movies during my life, but I hardly to read a fantasy fiction, because I prefer the performance of the filming and movies could provide a full reality model for my own imagination of the fantasy world. Even the one of the most famous and popular fantasy series Harry Potter wrote by J. K. Rowling. I still have no read the whole series of the original fictions yet. After watching and reading amount of this genres, the characters into fantasy fictions are similar. There are some archetypes often present to the fantasy fiction.
The main characters of the fantasy stories usually is a ignorant, curiosity, brave, kind and young, many of them are teenagers or children. In the beginning of the fictions, this kinds of character usually likes a normal person, no power or know nothing about the craft and magic, also a bit clumsy. However, during the experience they could grow stronger and became a hero, a master, even a legend. For example, Ged, the main character of A Wizard of the Earthsea, the story about a young boy become the most powerful wizard of the earthsea. Similarly, Harry Potter, a poor little boy go to the wizard school to learning, finding his parents, and grow strong enough to beat the evil wizard Voldemort.
In addition, the wise teacher is another general character in fantasy. They are usually old male with long white beard, full of knowledge about everything and have a higher level power than others. These kinds of archetypes in the story are the guide person of the main characters, inspire and encourage, help them to achieve the result, also explain everything about the story world. For example, Professor Albus from Harry Potter, Gandalf from Hobbit and Ogion from A Wizard of the Earthsea.
Furthermore, the evil characters is a necessary factor of fantasy. They are planning some evil project likes destroy the world, destroy a kingdom, plunder an important magic weapon. For instance, the evil wizard Voldemort from Harry Potter, the white witch from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. However, the evil does not have to be a person, it could be no shape shadow, fantasy creature, or even the evil is from the inside of the main characters. A Wizard of the Earthsea is a great example. The shadow that hunt for Ged, it is actually the dark side of Ged. In the end Ged beat down the shadow, just like he come over and control the shadow inside himself.
Reference
From Hags to Heroes: Archetypes in Fantasy Fiction
the references to the primary text need to be more elaborated. How does Jed confront his shadow?
Deletenice use of paragraphs.
the book is not referenced properly. date? Author? publisher? where is the in-text citation. Another scholarly source would be good.
Week 3-4 Fantasy
ReplyDeleteThe Wizard of Earthsea- Ursula Le Guin
2.) How does Attebery (1980) define fantasy? Find at least five definitions.
Attebery firsts defines fantasy through books, such as the Lord of the Rings, Narnia and Perelandra, the Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, the Princess and the Goblin, Saki’s tales etc.
This shows that it is easier to describe something when provided with examples.
He mentions Irwin’s description: “an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility.”
“Whatever the material, extravagant or seemingly commonplace, a narrative is a fantasy if it presents the persuasive establishment and development of an impossibility, an arbitrary construct of the mind with all under the control of logic and rhetoric.”
Attebery states that fantasy is contradicting, as J. R.R Tolkien talked of fantasy as, “founded upon the hard recognition that things are so in the world as it appears under the sun; on a recognition of fact but not a slavery to it.”
Through the definitions and explanations of authors of fiction, we can gain a better understanding of the medium.
Attebery then goes on to further explain fantasy as being, “any narrative which includes as a significant part of its make-up some violation of what the author clearly believes to be natural law- that is fantasy.”
Belief in what the author has made, the world in which the reader has been placed in. A living that is severely different to the one we are living in yet, holds truth and similarities to the human experience in our world.
“Fantasy treats these impossibilities without hesitation, without doubt, without any attempt to reconcile them with our intellectual understanding of the workings of the world or to make us believe that such things could under any circumstances come true.”
The reader will always know that the imaginative world is not the world we are living in, but it helps us to understand our world a little better. Fantasy treats the reader not as a child but using somewhat child-like themes, but at the core is a message that talks to all people, child and/or adult.
He states the different modes and forms fantasy can take, yet they still have at the heart an alternate world to our own.
He also talks about the writer and reader relationship; both parties need to maintain the imaginable frame of mind throughout the whole narrative, to gain the most from the work. This has been described as “secondary belief” by Tolkein, and leads to a wondrous view on the world when carried out.
After identifying so many definitions Attebery says: “the simpler the definition, the more room it leaves for sub-classification and evaluation.”
This makes it clearer for a reader and/or anyone interested in fantasy to comprehend what it is all about.
Fantasy is a sense of wonder. “Fantasy invokes wonder by making the impossibilities seem familiar and the familiar seem new and strange.”
This statement is the best way of understanding the story out of context, and in relation to the real world, much like a fantasy itself. This is clearest way of describing how fantasy creates wonder.
Fantasy generates suspense, explores the unknown, and “can clarify philosophical and moral conflicts, embodying them in story lines that may not be directly applicable to our own complex and muddied lives but which can please or inspire because of their open and evident design. That is one of the most important accomplishments at which fantasy can aim, to give comprehensible form of life, death, good, and evil; this has always been the primary aim of the earliest kind of fantasy, the folktale.”
This is a thorough definition that sums up fantasy as a genre.
good work
Deleteyou need to reference in-text. list your references at the bottom of your answer. You have not referred to Earthsea. use specific examples from Earthsea in your answer.
2) How does Attebery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least five definitions?
ReplyDeleteThe first way in which Attebery defines fantasy is by quoting W.R Irwin. He states that every fantasy must feature “an overt violation of what is generally accepted as possibility” (Irwin). This lays the foundation, but Atterbury also highlights the distinction between fantasy and other works of fiction.
Atterbury claims that straightforward treatment of the impossible distinguishes “fantasy and related genres” (Atterbury, 1980). More realistic genres like science-fiction try to convince the audience that the happenings within the story are possible in our world. As Ursula Le Guin (2005) puts it “fantasy deliberately violates plausibility in the sense of congruence with the world outside the story”.
Atterbury also believes that fantasy worlds have the ability to create a sense of wonder by “making the impossible seem familiar and the familiar seem new and strange” (Atterbury, 2005). As secondary worlds contain entirely new people, cultures, creatures, powers etc. they’re able to heighten curiosity more so than stories set in our own world.
In these secondary worlds we need what J. R. R. Tolkien calls, “secondary belief” (n.d.). Atterbury talks about how without consistency within the implausibilities of fantasy the illusion between reader and writer is broken. With Wizard of Earthsea, Le Guin incorporates rules and restrictions with regards to magic that hold true throughout the book.
Finally, Atterbury points out that fantasy can find its origins in European folktales. Folktales were typically written by and for peasants of the time. The stories in these tales can be seen as social commentary as they often featured a disregard for authority and the upper class. This theme features in Wizard of Earthsea as Ged (Protagonist) came from a poor village in a rural area.
In conclusion, Atterbury defines fantasy by separating it from genres some might view as synonymous. He also highlights the otherworldly occurrences within fantasy while grounding them with rules and themes that parallel our world.
References
Atterbury, B. (1980). Locating fantasy In The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guinn. Bloomington: Indiana U P.
Le guin, U. .K. (n.p). Plausibility Revisited Wha Hoppen and What Didn't. Retrieved 20 August, 2017, from http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html
Tolkien, J. R. R. (n.d). p. 37
Tolkien, J. .R. .R. (1965). On Fairy Tales. Boston: Houghton Miffin Company.
very nice answer.
ReplyDeleteI like your paragraphs.
please use specific examples from Earthsea
Q. How is science fiction different from fantasy, according to Le Guin?
ReplyDeleteA. Le Guin describes science fiction as "a child of realism, not of fantasy" (White, 1994), she goes on to state that both realistic fiction and science fiction deal with stories that could be plausible in our world (White, 1994) and that just as realistic fiction does, science fiction meets the conventional expectations of how people would act and avoiding improbable events and actions from occurring (Le Guin, 2005). She goes on to express the idea that science fiction is the "modern mythology" (Le Guin, 2005) of realistic fiction as many science fiction stories are about world that don't exist but could exist in the future or could have existed in the past (White, 1994).
On the other hand with fantasy, Le Guin states that "we simply agree to lift the ban on the imagination and follow the story, no matter how implausible it may be" (White, 1994). Fantasy is far more direct in its fictionality and implausibility than science fiction or realism, as there is no agreement with author and reader to pretend the story has or might happen (Le Guin, 2005). Only lesser matters such as behaviour of human characters are treated with realism and will generally meet conventional expectation in order not to overload the reader on improbable factors (Le Guin, 2005).
So as we can see, when it comes to differentiating between the genres of science fiction and fantasy, the main point to look out for is the plausibility and implausibility of the events that unfold in the story in relation to the possibility of their realism in our world.
References:
Le Guin, U. K. (2005). Plausibility revisited. Retrieved from http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html
White, J. (1994). Talking on the water; Conversations about nature and creativity. San Antonio, Texas: Trinity University Press.
1. How does Attebery (1980) define Fantasy? Find at least 5 definitions.
ReplyDelete2. How is science fiction different from fantasy, according to Le Guinn?
For the first question regarding the definition of Fantasy, Attebery (1980) has many definitions and descriptions for the Fantasy genre, however one of the main features of Fantasy is its ability to violate anything that is perceived or assumed as being part of the “natural law” or the natural way of things. Attebery (1980) also believes that this should be a significant portion of the text but in some of the more recent Fantasy texts (such as Game of Thrones) the fantastical element is minimal and the focus is mainly on character relationships. Following on from this, Fantasy also treats these “violations” without any hesitation and assumes that the reader must also invest their imagination to go with it. With Fantasy it’s important that the reader can commit to the improbabilities of that world – almost like a game. Therefore Fantasy can broadly be defined as a story which has been fundamentally altercated by reality but is treated as if it were true (Attebury, 1980). One last significant feature of Fantasy is that it is able in some cases to help explain, justify, or to clear up morally ambiguous situations. An example of this would be in folktales where there would be a obvious “form” given to the good and evil. This is used to help children in particular to make distinctions between the two when in many cases in reality it is not that straight forward.
For the second question, according to Le Guinn, in the simplest terms science fiction is different to fantasy because it deals with issues in the political and social atmosphere whereas Fantasy is based on myth. Science fiction was derived mainly in the Victorian era when scientific discoveries were pushing the boundaries of the changing society. Texts such as Frankenstein were written to explore these speculations.