scholarly journals On the Idea of the Secondary World in Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi

Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Błaszkiewicz

The paper seeks to explore the concept of the secondary world as developed in Susanna Clarke’s 2020 fantasy novel Piranesi. The analysis is conducted in the context of the evolution of the literary motif of fairy abduction between the classic medieval texts and its current incarnations in modern speculative fiction. The argument relates the unique secondary world model found in Clarke’s novel to the extensive intertextual relationship Piranesi has with the tradition of portal fantasy narratives, and discusses it in the context of the progressive cognitive internalisation of the perception of the fantastic which has taken place between the traditional medieval paradigm and contemporary fantasy fiction.

Author(s):  
Nassima Kaid

Many writers have shown their preoccupation with and interest in the representation of the fantastic body over the past centuries. The figure of the vampire, werewolves, and zombies keep coming back in those works although today’s monsters are humanized. In Contemporary Young Adult fantasy, readers are presented with characters that usually adapt to the real world. The fantastic body does no more refer to psychosexual dysfunction but generates mainly from socioeconomic and cultural malaise (Badley, 17-18). In other words, the fantastic becomes a virtual reality that symbolizes the changing ‘self’ within the postmodern era though contemporary literature has transcended the actual environment as it copes with technological advancement. Unlike other fantasy fiction, Meyer has focused on traditional fantastic creatures originating in folklores and myths; they are an integral part of the fantastic as they cross lines between natural and supernatural elements. The present paper aims at addressing the representation of body transformations into vampires and werewolves in Stephenie Meyer’s The Twilight Saga. It will evaluate body metamorphosis into vampires and werewolves discovering new dimensions of one’s own identity and personality. It will further demonstrate how Meyer has succeeded in creating her own monsters without untying some of the mythical substratum.


2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 460-474
Author(s):  
E Dawson Varughese

Focusing on two novels published in 2016, one by HarperCollins India and the other by Hachette India, this paper argues that Savage Blue by Balagopal and Dark Things by Venkatraghavan carve out a new space in post-millennial Indian speculative fiction in English, namely one that does not privilege ‘Hindu Indian mythology’ tropes. Such tropes have been espoused by a growing number of authors whose novels are anchored in Hindu Indian mythology and narratives of itihasa since the early 2000s. Banker, Tripathi, and Sanghi are generally recognized as the authors who first published in this post-millennial genre of Indian fiction in English. This discussion of the novels by Balagopal and Venkatraghavan, alongside ideas of how ‘fantasy’ as a genre has been, and continues to be defined, raises questions about how we might think about ‘Indian fantasy’ as a genre term within the domestic Indian book market and how it intersects with post-millennial Indian living, Indianness, and the popular imaginary.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Angles ◽  
Gabrielle Trochez ◽  
Akiko Nakata ◽  
Tonya Smith-Jackson ◽  
Daniel Hindman

Discourse ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-117
Author(s):  
O. M. Polyakov

Introduction. The article continues the series of publications on the linguistics of relations (hereinafter R–linguistics) and is devoted to an introduction to the logic of natural language in relation to the approach considered in the series. The problem of natural language logic still remains relevant, since this logic differs significantly from traditional mathematical logic. Moreover, with the appearance of artificial intelligence systems, the importance of this problem only increases. The article analyzes logical problems that prevent the application of classical logic methods to natural languages. This is possible because R-linguistics forms the semantics of a language in the form of world model structures in which language sentences are interpreted.Methodology and sources. The results obtained in the previous parts of the series are used as research tools. To develop the necessary mathematical representations in the field of logic and semantics, the formulated concept of the interpretation operator is used.Results and discussion. The problems that arise when studying the logic of natural language in the framework of R–linguistics are analyzed. These issues are discussed in three aspects: the logical aspect itself; the linguistic aspect; the aspect of correlation with reality. A very General approach to language semantics is considered and semantic axioms of the language are formulated. The problems of the language and its logic related to the most General view of semantics are shown.Conclusion. It is shown that the application of mathematical logic, regardless of its type, to the study of natural language logic faces significant problems. This is a consequence of the inconsistency of existing approaches with the world model. But it is the coherence with the world model that allows us to build a new logical approach. Matching with the model means a semantic approach to logic. Even the most General view of semantics allows to formulate important results about the properties of languages that lack meaning. The simplest examples of semantic interpretation of traditional logic demonstrate its semantic problems (primarily related to negation).


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengcheng You

This article reviews four major Chinese animated adaptations based on the classic Journey to the West. It shows how these adaptations, spanning four historical phases of modern China, encapsulate changes in Chinese national identity. Close readings underpin a developmental narrative about how Chinese animated adaptations of this canonical text strive to negotiate the multimodal expressions of homegrown folklore traditions, technical influences of western animation, and domestic political situations across time. This process has identified aesthetic dilemmas around adaptations that oscillate between national allegory and individual destiny, verisimilitude and the fantastic quest for meaning. In particular, the subjectivisation of Monkey King on the screen, embodying the transition from primitivistic impulse, youthful idealism and mature practicality up to responsible stewardship, presents how an iconic national figure encapsulates the real historical time of China.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-251
Author(s):  
Anthony Pavlik

Fantasy other worlds are often seen as alternative, wholly ‘other’ locations that operate as critiques of the ‘real’ world, or provide spaces where child protagonists can take advantage of the otherness they encounter in their own process of growth. Rather than consider fantasy fiction's presentations of ‘other’ worlds in this way, this article proposes reading them as potential thirdspaces of performance and activity that are neutral rather than confrontational such that, in fantasy other world fiction for children and young adults, the putative ‘other’ world may not, in fact, be ‘other’ at all.


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