Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of English, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-69).

Undergraduate honors paper--Mount Holyoke College, 2007. Dept. of English. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-104).

It is a great deficit to Fantasy scholarship that Lord Dunsany has remained largely ignored. Despite the lack of critical attention Lord Dunsany's work has received at the hands of critics, his fiction has been immensely important to other Fantasy authors. Dunsany's prose is highly stylized and is an intricate aspect of his world building. While many critics agree that Dunsany's prose style is unique and masterful, no detailed analysis of it exists. This study focuses primarily on Dunsany's prose style in The King of Elfland's Daughter, widely agreed to be Dunsany's finest novel, and certainly characteristic of his early fiction writing. I then discuss Dunsany's profound influence on J.R.R. Tolkien's critical and fictional work. Both authors embrace Dryden's "fairy way of writing" within their respective works, embracing the old and romantic, as well as nature's creations, as precious treasures in our realm and in the imaginative realm of Faery. / by Skye T. Cervone. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Stockholm, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-123).

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Stockholm, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-123).

This thesis is a study of the first four books of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. It accounts for the widespread success of the novels by examining their publication and marketing histories, and their literary achievement as narratives including a sophisticated mix of generic traditions. Chapter One looks at the popularity of the novels, comparing their material production and marketing by Rowling’s English language publishers: Bloomsbury in Britain and Scholastic in the United States of America. The publisher’s influence on the public perception of each book is demonstrated by comparative study of its mode of illustration and layout. Further, the design of the books is linked to their strategic marketing and branding within the literary world. The second chapter considers Rowling’s debt to the school story. It concentrates first on the history of this relatively short-lived genre, briefly discussing its stereotypical features and values. Traditional elements of setting and characterisation are then examined to show how the Harry Potter novels present a value system which, though apparently old-fashioned, still has an ethical standpoint designed to appeal to the modern reader. Chapter Three focuses on the characterisation of Harry as a hero-figure, especially on how the influence of classical and medieval texts infuses Rowling’s portrayal of Harry as a hero in the chivalric mode. The episodes of “quest” and “test” in each book illustrate specifically how he learns the values of selflessness, loyalty, mercy and fairness. Chapter Four surveys the contribution of modern fantasy writing to the series. It shows how Rowling creates a secondary world that allows us to perceive magic as a metaphorical representation of power. This focus on the relationship between magic and power in turn has a bearing on our assessment of the author’s moral stance. The thesis concludes by suggesting that Rowling’s unusual mix of genres is justified by the values they share, and which are inscribed in her work: the generic combination forms a workable, new and exciting mode of writing that helps to account for the phenomenal popularity of the series.

The realm of fantasy literature has always been that of the 'invisible', in as much as it has either been 'excluded' from traditional academic circles or at most marginalised from the general body of literary texts and considered a literature of 'escape'. This positioning of fantasy literature has caused a definition of the genre that is two-dimensional, and that perpetuates its alienation from the 'canon'. Although the works of fantasy literature by J.R.R. Tolkien are sometimes considered 'worthy' literature, but he is an exception in literary circles. In light of the 'invisible' position that fantasy literature occupies, this thesis attempts, through the use of Derridian and Jungian theory to (re)define fantasy literature by proposing a definition of fantasy literature that is three¬dimensional and that stems precisely from its 'invisible' position. The 'spherical' theory proposed illustrates how fantasy literature allows the reader to (re)examine his/her reality by presenting him/her with a reality that is different to his/her everyday concrete reality, but that at the same time shares the same moral, ethical and identity issues found in the 'visible' world and that the reader is faced with on a daily basis. The prolific use of magic in fantasy cannot be ignored and in this thesis, the use of magic within the texts and its function in a scientifi-rational world is focused on in detail. With each text, a different kind of magic is focused on. In Tolkien, the focus is on Alchemy and how the characters in his novels undergo an Alchemical transformation. The Tolkien texts that are focussed on are The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The chapter on Patricia McKillip focuses primarily on the use of magic in her protagonist's search for identity. The texts used form part of her Riddle Master trilogy and are, The Riddle Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire and Harpist in the Wind. The section on Katherine Kerr explores the idea of a 'new' magic for a 'new' world and focuses on how in the three novels, The Red Wyvern, The Black Raven and The Fire Dragon, magic takes on a 'new' definition. / Dissertation (MA (English))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / English / unrestricted

In "On Fairy Stories" J.R.R. Tolkien writes that joy is the "mark of the true fairy- story." Tolkien believed that joy was the defining characteristic of the genre. This joy is not just apparent in the happy ending of the fairy tale, but also in the manner in which the plot and characters show theories of joy, and the way the text itself creates joy in the reader. This paper will explore Tolkien's creation of brightness, hope, and wonder, and how these instances express a theory of joy. First I will look at the different types of joy in Tolkien's work, then the more general theories that these types express, and finally the effect the joy in the story has on the reader. / by Natasha Minnerly. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Thesis (MA (Visual Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

This study undertakes an examination of the representation of nature in works of literature that it regards as early British ‘mythopoeic fantasy’. By this term the thesis understands that fantasy fiction which is fundamentally concerned with myth or myth-making. It is the contention of the study that the connection of these works with myth or the idea of myth is integral to their presentation of nature. Specifically, this study identifies a connection between the idea of nature presented in these novels and the thought of the late-Victorian era regarding nature, primitivism, myth and the impulse behind mythopoesis. It is argued that this conceptual background is responsible for the notion of nature as a virtuous force of spiritual redemption in opposition to modernity and in particular to the dominant modern ideological model of scientific materialism. The thesis begins by examining late-Victorian sensibilities regarding myth and nature, before exposing correlative ideas in selected case studies of authors whose work it posits to be primarily mythopoeic in intent. The first of these studies considers the work of Henry Rider Haggard, the second examines Scottish writer David Lindsay, and the third looks at the mythopoeic endeavours of J. R. R. Tolkien, the latter standing alone among the authors considered in these central case studies in producing fiction under a fully developed theory of mythopoesis. The perspective is then widened in the final chapter, allowing consideration of authors such as William Morris and H. G. Wells. The study attempts to demonstrate the prevalence of an identifiable conceptual model of nature in the period it considers to constitute the age of early mythopoeic fantasy fiction, which it conceives to date from the late-Victorian era to the apotheosis of Tolkien’s work.