Fantasy of the Middle Ages

Bohemia 61, 2021

Looking at mythical dimensions in medieval narratives, the aim of this paper is to show – by discussing monstrosity in conjunction with femininity and orientalism respectively – that medievalism, which is not automatically a purely creative preoccupation with the past, needs our critical attention. This is therefore a call for critical medievalism. The show Game of Thrones operates on medievalist fantasy elements which are grafted onto a long tradition of appropriating the past and using it as an imaginary canvas. Medieval tales themselves functioned on a mythical plane where the line between claims to historical accuracy and creative leeway is blurred. Using the concept of “mythical thinking” as expounded in Ernst Cassirer’s work, we can see how the medieval narratives Mélusine and Duke Ernst deploy mythical elements. Investigation into aspects of femininity in conjunction with bestiality on the one hand and orientalism on the other with the help of Cassirer’s “mythical thinking” elucidates the ways in which cultural and historical appropriation work. Reminding the reader of Umberto Eco’s as well as J. R. R. Tolkien’s view on medievalism, the author – in light of politicised forms of the preoccupation with the medieval past – calls for critical medievalism.

Published in Vincent Ferré (ed.). 2010. Médiévalisme. Modernité du Moyen Âge. Paris: L’Harmattan, 61-71. Abstract: The (popularly conceived) Middle Ages and (heroic) fantasy share a number of characteristics, such as settings in pre-technological and pre-bureaucratic worlds where men were not yet alienated from their fellow human beings and where things were more ‘authentic’. However, next to these ‘surface parallels’, we can identify a deeper underlying reason for the close affinity between the Middle Ages and (heroic) fantasy, which is due to the identification of medieval romance as the medieval literary genre per se, and the participation of (heroic) fantasy in this tradition.

2020

This paper reexamines the distinction between fiction and reality in medieval times, and in political discourses. Relying on diverse sources and narrative devices, and particularly on the organic metaphor (or 'body politic', this contribution aims to better delineate the medieval 'regime of truth and fiction', as it also questions a few other traditional boundaries, as between disciplines, between religion and politics, and between Middle Ages and modern times.

2013

A faun carrying an umbrella; a hobbit who lives in a hole; a mysterious name – Lyra; an ill-treated schoolboy with a scar and a secret. Children's fantasy may be said in some sense to begin with resonant images – certainly they often do so in the authors' myths of origins. However, they also begin in an author's reading practices, in his or her experiences, in the influences which, acknowledged or not, shape and articulate their own vision and help define what it is and, sometimes more importantly, what it is not. Medieval culture and literature in one way or another has provided inspiration for all of the writers discussed in this chapter, from Anglo-Saxon warrior heroes and valiant last stands to druids and the Celtic Otherworld, from chivalric knights and more or less distressed damsels to manuscripts and scribes and the Bodleian Library itself. It is almost impossible now to think of fantasy literature without simultaneously thinking of J. R. R. Tolkien, and indeed some of the fantasy literature that followed the publication of The Lord of the Rings is derivative of his created world, rather than taking influence from the medieval sources upon which he drew. However, this chapter shows that medievalist fantasy existed both before and after Tolkien, and that the Middle Ages still provide a rich source for the creative imagination. We may divide medievalist fantasy into a couple of types. Firstly, we have fantasies of an imagined past, which divide in turn into those which seek to recreate the historical Middle Ages but add fantastic ingredients such as dragons and spells, and those which recreate the fantasy worlds of medieval authors themselves. Secondly, we may identify fantasies of an imagined present, where medieval characters and the medieval world invade the contemporary environment of the books' original audience, or where medieval culture shapes the creation of an alternative world. One of the fascinating things about many of the authors discussed below, however, is the extent to which they challenge and ignore generic boundaries, to create something new from something old. In Carolyne Larrington with Diane Purkiss, ed., 'Magical Tales: Myths, Legend & Enchantment in Children's Books' (Bodleian Library, 2013)

Literature Compass, 2004

This paper examines the ways that contemporary authors have transformed medieval source materials in fantasy literature.

Imago temporis: medium Aevum, 2016

Contemporary fantasists are often inspired by the texts from and with medieval context. This paper taps into Horace Walpole’s principles revealed in the preface to The Castle of Otranto to show that the works of medieval fantasy and contemporary fantasy subgenres written in 20th and 21st centuries have a lot in common with Walpole’s recipe for creating ‘a new species of romance’. When considered from the present time, the Medieval period can be seen as being halfway between fantasy and reality, in a blurry area where the two overlap, and contemporary fantasists use this trait to build their fictional worlds as effective reverberators of universal themes that remain interesting, appealing and worth repeating.

2018

Medieval literature, history and culture has been a subject of interest to me for much of my life. At a younger age, I looked at the surface level of works such as J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and similar fantasy fiction and enjoyed them without realizing that they were drawing upon a rich body of literature of a period long past. These novels were my introduction to a wide variety of writings and media that focused on medieval settings and content, and such stories became one of my primary sources of entertainment. As my interest turned to video games, I realized how many of my favorite games, such as The Legend of Zelda series, drew inspiration from the characters, setting, and narratives of medieval romance: dragons were slain, magical swords were acquired, and gallant knights rode off to save princesses. As I matured and played video games with more "nontraditional" narrative elements, I began to wonder to what extent, exactly, they drew upon medieval literature in ways other than content. I began to study the subject at Skidmore, beginning with EN 229H (Stories of English) in the Spring semester of 2016, I came to realize that these two storytelling forms, medieval romance and video games, despite separated by hundreds of years of history, cultural development, and technological progress were more similar than they initially seemed, and not just in content. The structures of the narratives now employed by video games, even outside of an experimental context, use storybuilding strategies of medieval romance. The persistence of such narrative construction tools and arrangements connects these two narrative forms in significant ways.

2015

24 © Instituto de la paz y los conflictos 2009 iss n: 1

Recently my love of film and literature has prompted me to examine the ways in which history is represented in popular culture and the functions that these representations serve.