Date on Honors Thesis

Fall 12-2024

Major

English Education/Secondary Certification

Examining Committee Member

Danielle Nielsen

Examining Committee Member

Ray Horton

Examining Committee Member

Gwendolyn Paradice

Abstract/Description

Fantasy literature's origins can be traced through myths and folktales, medieval romances, enlightenment fairy tale fantasy, and Romanticism, before finally taking firmer root in the Victorian period and blooming into its own genre in 20th century modern fantasy. Victorian thinkers reacted to the Enlightenment’s realism and technological innovation by “rediscovering” the Middle Ages as a time of beauty, simplicity, and moral virtue. Simultaneously, Psychology developed as a recognized field of study, and theories emerged about the psychological process of memory formation and retrieval, as well as its reliability and relation to identity.

Considering these psychological theories, Victorian fantasy's cultural memory of the Middle Ages proves to be a construct, a type of fantasy in itself. In fantasy fiction, this creates familiarity, otherness, and societal critique to engage with an individual and cultural search for identity. Within a genre that has persisted through human history, cultural memory creates a space for humanity’s desire to experience the real and find truth.

This thesis explores fantasy fiction as a genre that is, fundamentally, a search for identity, one which persisted throughout literary history and culminated in Victorian and modern fantasy fiction. I explore the development of the fantasy genre, the Victorian culture in which it crystallized, and the psychological theories that influence our understanding of it. I analyze the characteristics of the genre itself, then provide a case study of Lord’s Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter, which is rooted in the Victorian era and set in the 16th century. Finally, a study of N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, a 2015 work of modern fantasy, will reveal similar questions of identity, progress, history, and memory through a post-apocalyptic lens, with more subtle medieval touches. Both of these works epitomize how fantasy fiction knits together the threads of history, psychology, religion, science, and literature, exploring the universal question of what it means to be human.

Download

Share

COinS