Finding God(s) in Fantasylands: Religious Ideas in Fantasy Literature

The following paper analyzes how fantasy literature addresses the topic of religion. The discussion of the genre’s dependence on myths, supported by Mircea Eliade’s claims about the sacred and profane spheres of human life, offers an answer to the questions why religion is one of the most prominent themes in fantasy fiction. The analysis of a selected group of fantasy novels (the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, C. S. Lewis, Guy Gavriel Kay, Celia S. Friedman, Jack Vance, Poul Anderson, Philip Pullman, Dave Duncan, George R. R. Martin, and Brandon Sanderson) presents various ways in which a fantasy narrative may approach religious themes: by inventing secondary religions that enrich the imaginary realm, by reworking particular religious themes and turning them into an axis of the narrative, and by supporting, promoting, or criticizing a certain faith through the means of fantasy [email protected] Łaszkiewicz is a lecturer at the Faculty of Philology, University of Bialystok, Poland. She is currently working on her PhD. Her dissertation is devoted to the presence of Christianity in American fantasy literature.The University of Bialystok1243

Jack London: a writing sailor, a sailing writer

The following paper analyzes how the experience of sailing shaped Jack London’s life and works. On the one hand, the paper recounts those events from the writer’s biography which contributed to his emotional attachment to the sea and created a realistic background for his texts. On the other hand, it focuses on a selection of London’s works—“Typhoon Off the Coast of Japan”, “Chris Farrington: Able Seaman”, The Sea-Wolf, and Martin Eden—in order to investigate how the experience of sea and sailing affects a character’s morality/personality, and to examine how the chosen narratives reflect and preserve London’s own memories of life on [email protected] Łaszkiewicz is a lecturer at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Bialystok, Poland. She is currently working on her PhD. Her dissertation is devoted to the presence of Christianity in American fantasy literature.University of Bialystok6 (3/2014)162

The Unicorn as the Embodiment of the Numinous in the Works of Peter S. Beagle

This article examines Peter S. Beagle’s depiction of unicorns in his two recent works, In Calabria (2017) and “My Son Heydari and the Karkadann” (2017), in order to demonstrate how these mythic creatures embody Rudolf Otto’s concept of the numinous (defined as mysterium tremendum et fascinans) and thus expand the unicorn imagery developed by the writer since his 1968 The Last Unicorn

Peter S. Beagle\u27s Transformations of the Mythic Unicorn

Traces the development of Beagle’s unicorns through the novel The Last Unicorn and three other stories, paying particular attention to how and why Beagle adapted and rejected certain distinguishing features of traditional unicorn lore and legend

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Portrayal of Femininity and Its Transformations in Subsequent Adaptations

The aim of the following paper is to examine the portrayal of female characters and femininity in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Since Tolkien’s heroines have been both praised and severely criticized, this paper will, first of all, investigate and recapitulate the arguments in favor and against Tolkien’s depiction of women. Secondly, it will be argued that the ambiguity surrounding these fictional characters stems from the writer’s private relationship with women. Finally, the paper will analyze how Tolkien’s ambiguous female characters have fared in various adaptations of his works, particularly in the cinematic versions produced by Peter Jackson and in fan-made [email protected] Łaszkiewicz, PhD, works at the Institute of Modern Languages (University of Białystok). Her research interests focus on British and American popular literature, particularly on various aspects of fantasy fiction. She co-edited Visuality and Vision in American Literature (2014) and Dwelling in Days Foregone: Nostalgia in American Literature and Culture (2016).University of BiałystokAkers-Jordan, Cathy. 2004. Fairy Princess or Tragic Heroine? The Metamorphosis of Arwen Undómiel in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Films. In: Janet Brennan Croft (ed.), Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, 195-213. Altadena, California: The Mythopoeic Press.Basso, Ann McCauley. 2008. Fairy Lady Goldberry, Daughter of the River. Mythlore 27:1/2. 137-146.Booker, Susan. 2004. Tales Around the Internet Campfire: Fan Fiction in Tolkien’s Universe. In: Janet Brennan Croft (ed.), Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, 259-282. Altadena, California: The Mythopoeic Press.Carpenter, Humphrey. 1977. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography. London: Allen & Unwin.Carpenter, Humphrey. 1978. The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and their Friends. London: Allen & Unwin.Croft, Janet Brennan and Leslie A. Donovan (eds.) 2015. Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J.R.R. Tolkien. Altadena: Mythopoeic Press.Frederick, Candice and Sam McBride. 2001. Women Among the Inklings: Gender, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. Westport: Greenwood Press.McLeish, Kenneth. 1983. The Rippingest Yarn of All. In: Robert Giddings (ed.), J.R.R. Tolkien: This Far Land, 125-136. London: Vision and Barnes & Noble.Miller, John. 2003. The Hero and the Other: Alternative Masculinities and the ‘Dominion of Men’ in The Lord of the Rings. In: Susanne Fendler and Ulrike Horstmann (eds.), Images of Masculinity in Fantasy Fiction, 183-203. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.Mullich, David. Date n/a. The Complete List of Film Changes for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. http://www.theonering.com/complete-list-of-film-changes (13 December 2016).O’Connor, Gerard. 1973. Why Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings Should Not be Popular Culture. Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy, vol. 13, no. 1. 48-55.Otty, Nick. 1983. The Structuralist’s Guide to Middle-earth. In: Robert Giddings (ed.), J.R.R. Tolkien: This Far Land, 154-178. London: Vision and Barnes & Noble.Partridge, Brenda. 1983. No Sex Please—We’re Hobbits: The Construction of Female Sexuality in The Lord of the Rings. In: Robert Giddings (ed.), J.R.R. Tolkien: This Far Land, 179-197. London: Vision and Barnes & Noble.Scull, Christina and Wayne G. Hammond. 2006. The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide. Vols. 1 & 2. London: HarperCollinsPublishers.Taylor, Taryne Jade. 2008. Investigating the Role and Origin of Goldberry in Tolkien’s Mythology. Mythlore 27:1/2. 147-156.Thum, Maureen. 2004. The ‘Sub-Subcreation’ of Galadriel, Arwen, and Éowyn: Women of Power in Tolkien’s and Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. In: Janet Brennan Croft (ed.), Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, 231-256. Altadena, California: The Mythopoeic Press.Tolkien, J.R.R. 1998. The Hobbit or There and Back Again. London: Collins Modern Classics.West, Richard C. 2011. Neither the Shadow nor the Twilight: The Love Story of Aragorn and Arwen in Literature and Film. In: Janice M. Bogstad and Philip E. Kaveny (eds.), Picturing Tolkien: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy, 227-237. Jefferson: McFarland.15-2811 (4/2015)152