Orientador: Álvaro Luiz Hattnher / Banca: Karin Volobuef / Banca: Aparecido Donizete Rossi / Banca: Fernanda Aquino Sylvestre / Banca: Renata Kabke Pinheiro / Resumo: Este trabalho propõe uma revisão e uma delimitação do gênero fantasia que se dará fundamentalmente por meio do diálogo com as noções de "contos de fadas" e de "fantasia" tal como formuladas por J. R. R. Tolkien (2013) em seu ensaio "Sobre contos de fadas". Em termos de revisão, procuraremos o cotejo entre a teoria do autor de O senhor dos anéis e críticos tais como Manlove (1982, 1990), Laetz e Johnston (2008), Stableford (1990), Attebery (1980, 1990, 1992). No que tange à delimitação, interessar-nos-á particularmente o contraponto com a concepção do gênero maravilhoso proposta por Todorov (2007). Tal postura contribuirá para a afirmação da fantasia como um gênero mais bem delineado e coerente, contribuindo, também, para a coesão do próprio maravilhoso, gênero demasiado amplo que congrega obras muito heterogêneas. A fantasia surgirá, desse modo, como um dos limites do maravilhoso, justamente quando os elementos "sobrenaturais" da narrativa possuem o que Tolkien chama de "consistência interna de realidade", constituindo um "Mundo Secundário". Portanto, enquanto no maravilhoso encontra-se uma integração (e harmonização) entre o "natural" e o "sobrenatural", a fantasia implicará uma disjunção entre duas realidades, dois Mundos. Segundo essa concepção, propomos uma leitura de A história sem fim, de Michael Ende, focada, por um lado, nos procedimentos narrativos que favorecem a construção da fantasia, e, por outro, no aspecto metalinguístico que ocupa uma posição central no romance do escritor alemão. A abordagem da obra de Ende, dessa forma, deverá simultaneamente permitir o contato entre a teoria sobre a fantasia e a obra literária e favorecer conexões com outras narrativas (como As crônicas de Nárnia, O senhor dos anéis, O silmarillion, Mestre Gil de Ham e a série Harry Potter) que dela se aproximam, contribuindo, consequentemente, para uma melhor delimitação do... / Abstract: This work proposes a revision and delimitation of the fantasy genre that will fundamentally occur through the dialogue with the notions of "fairy tales" and "fantasy" as formulated by J. R. R. Tolkien (2013) in his essay "On Fairy Stories". In terms of revision, it will be done a comparison between The Lord of the Rings author's theory and the ones by critics such as Manlove (1982, 1990), Laetz and Johnston (2008), Stableford (1990), Attebery (1980, 1990, 1992). Regarding delimitation, it will interest us, particularly, the counterpoint with the marvelous as thought by Todorov (2007). This posture will contribute to fantasy's affirmation as a better lineate and coherent genre, contributing also to the cohesion of the marvelous itself, since it is a broad genre that brings together several heterogeneous works. Thus fantasy will appear as one of marvelous' limits, precisely when the narrative's "supernatural" elements have what Tolkien calls "internal consistency of reality", constituting a "Secondary World". Therefore, while in the marvelous it is found an integration (and harmonization) between "natural" and "supernatural," fantasy imply a disjunction between two realities, two worlds. According to this conception, this work proposes a reading of Micahel Ende's The Neverending Story focusing, on the one hand, in the narrative procedures that favor the fantasy construction, and, on the other hand, in the metalinguistic aspect that occupies a central position in the German writer's novel. Therefore, the approach of Ende's work must simultaneously allow the contact between fantasy's theory and literary work as well as foment connections with other narratives with similar procedures (such as The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Farmer Giles of Ham and the Harry Potter series), consequently contributing to a better definition of the fantasy genre itself / Doutor

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 72-73.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 600-624).

Thesis (MTech. degree in Drama)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2006. / This study aims to express the inherent connection between fantasy literature and the Christian church and how this connection can be employed in Christian church sermons. It is a utilitarian study, aimed to place the art of fantasy literature and the oral interpretation thereof in service of, in this case, the church. The twenty-first century church needs to find ways to minister effectively to the postmodern person. Fantasy literature can help fulfil some of these needs. Fantasy and Religion seems to have a natural connection. History shows that the earliest fantasies had religious, and specifically Christian, connotations. The inherent attributes of fantasy make it predisposed to spiritual meaning. The combination of these factors makes it a useful genre to help explain Biblical and Spiritual concepts. This dissertation aims to show how the two divergent ideas of faith and fantasy can be reconciled and how it is currently being done in churches in Gauteng. A multiple or collective case study design has been used with a purposive sampling method with a theoretical base. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with pastors and ministers from a variety of churches, to discover to what extent fantasy is currently being used in church sermons in Gauteng.

This study examines six texts o f the 12[sup th] and 13[sup th] centuries for the fantastic mode. It first refutes the critical assertion that the fantastic could not exist in medieval literature, but also establishes that most of the casually denominated "fantastic" is not. For the genuine fantastic, both in general and in its medieval appearances, questions of reality are at most peripheral. Rather the fantastic mode encodes itself in the narrative structure, creating ambiguity and openness. The structural approach frees the discussion o f the fantastic from theories predicated upon issues of thematics, reality-based analysis, and didactic categorizations o f supernatural objects. The first two chapters synthesize those elements from modern works of fantastic theory, (re)deflning the fantastic based upon a semiotic approach. The introduction concentrates on the need to reexamine the corpus of critical works addressing the fantastic. Chapter 1 summarizes the theoretical discussion in order to adjust the definition of "fantastic" as a critical term according to a more pre-Renaissance view of reality. Chapter 2 proposes the parallel worlds model as a structural model for the identification of the fantastic mode in texts where the supernatural is evident, with an emphasis on fantastic space as an intermediary locale between worlds. The last four chapters apply the parallel worlds model to a selected corpus of six narratives. While the structures of these texts vary in length, the fantastic is consistently manifested in a pattern that alternates between the real world, fantastic space and the otherworld. The open-ended structure of five narratives indicates that journeys to the otherworld are rarely accomplished with a high degree of completion, and therefore the narrative program remains incomplete. The conclusion is a defense of the fantastic within medieval French literature, concentrating on how the supernatural creates /otherness/, fantastic space and openness in the narrative program. The fantastic as a powerful but elusive force within Old French romance narratives often shifts to the merveilleioc in the end. The parallel worlds model, when used in conjunction with other theories for identifying the fantastic, is a structural method that emphasizes openness as a characteristic of the fantastic within medieval romance narratives.

Generally labelled as fantastic in nature, Maupassant's short stories pose a serious problem. The very term "fantastic" is itself highly ambiguous; there have been many attemps to define what makes a work of literature "fantastic" in nature, but none of these attempts have managed to capture the essence of the genre in its entirety. / What is most striking in Maupassant's narratives is precisely his rejection of the fantastic almost as soon as it occurs. Contrary to the more traditional literature of the fantastic, his narratives remain anchored in a realistic world, rendering the reader's experience even more unsettling. In a sense, Maupassant manages to tame the fantastic by normalizing it. / We intend, therefore, to position our work at the meeting point of these two concepts---realism and fantasy---in order to determine if the definition of "fantastic realism" we will be striving for can be verified through our analysis of the following stories: "Apparition", "La chevelure", "Le Horla" (first version), "La main", "La peur", "Magnetisme" and "Sur 1'eau". (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

While the theatrical works of Jules Verne have gathered some critical attention over recent years, the text of the Voyage à travers l’Impossible has remained an obscure space in the author’s oeuvre or deemed unworthy by Vernian scholars. Jules Verne has predominantly been seen as a writer of adventure novels whereas the fantastic elements in his work have commonly been overlooked by critics. This thesis examines the ways in which the Voyage à travers l’Impossible amalgamates ideas that are representative not only of the Vernian work in general but also of the pre-freudian spirit of the nineteenth century. By viewing the play within the context of theatrical fantasy, this thesis opens up new paths of analysis in the genre. Part of this endeavour consists of a comparison with a seemingly disparate text: Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, which, similarly to Verne’s play, facilitates an exploration of the function of fantasy both in literary and theatrical terms as it was first adapted for the stage in 2003. During the course of this thesis I offer an analysis of the trilogy and proceed to cover new ground by comparing this to an analysis of the adapted text. For the purpose of my examination I establish a connection between the two texts by regarding the Voyage à travers l’Impossible and His Dark Materials as dominated by the literary motif of initiation according to the model introduced by Vernian specialist Simone Vierne. I subsequently interweave an array of theories on fantasy, psychoanalysis, topography and the body as part of my analysis of the literary fantastic. Texts by Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Tzvetan Todorov, Irène Bessière, Mircea Eliade, Judith Butler and Vernian critics such as William Butcher are amply used in my readings of Verne and Pullman before I proceed to examine their relevance to the theatrical experience of the fantastic. An analysis of the adaptation of His Dark Materials offers the opportunity for fresh critical insights by creating new perspectives on the function of fantasy in its fluctuation from page to stage and vice-versa. It is through these different perspectives that I revisit old questions and introduce new ones such as the difference between fantasy and the fantastic, their regressive or progressive character, the modification of ii fantastic elements on the passage from the literary to the theatrical and from pre-modernism to post-modernism. Basing my analysis on stories of initiation, I suggest that fantasy evades exclusive association with either progress or regress and only remains faithful to the notions of passage and blurring of frontiers.

This thesis examines three genre high fantasy texts published between 1954 and 2001: J. R. R. Tolkien’s 'The Lord of the Rings', Ursula K. Le Guin’s 'Earthsea' cycle and Patricia A. McKillip’s 'The Riddle-Master’s Game'. The emphasis is on examining how the three texts use a common set of structures to articulate a developing argument about forms of human engagement with the physical world in the face of environmental crisis. Using theories of literary ecology and narrative paradigm, I examine the common structure shared by the three high fantasies and the weight of ethical implications it carries. The texts position the transcendent impulse of the mode of tragedy, and the behaviour it generates, as the source of crisis, and posit as a solution to the problem the integrative ethic characteristic of the comedic mode. They argue that a transition between these two ethics is necessary for the continued survival of the Secondary World. This thesis examines each text’s use of narrative paradigm to articulate methods by which this ethical transition may be achieved. An argumentative trend is documented across the three fantasies through the representation of situation, problem and solution. In each text, as the Secondary World becomes more completely a closed physical system, the source of the solution to the problem caused by the transcendent presence and the achievement of ethical transition are both relocated within the control of human actors. The three fantasies express a gradual movement toward the acceptance of not only human responsibility for, but the necessity for action to remedy, the damaged state of the world. I argue that the texts’ dominant concern is with the human relationship with and to context. Indeed, I argue that the three fantasies reflect the developing understanding of the human role in not only precipitating, but responding to, environmental crisis, and may function as both a reflection of and an intervention in that crisis. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2004

This thesis examines three genre high fantasy texts published between 1954 and 2001: J. R. R. Tolkien’s 'The Lord of the Rings', Ursula K. Le Guin’s 'Earthsea' cycle and Patricia A. McKillip’s 'The Riddle-Master’s Game'. The emphasis is on examining how the three texts use a common set of structures to articulate a developing argument about forms of human engagement with the physical world in the face of environmental crisis. Using theories of literary ecology and narrative paradigm, I examine the common structure shared by the three high fantasies and the weight of ethical implications it carries. The texts position the transcendent impulse of the mode of tragedy, and the behaviour it generates, as the source of crisis, and posit as a solution to the problem the integrative ethic characteristic of the comedic mode. They argue that a transition between these two ethics is necessary for the continued survival of the Secondary World. This thesis examines each text’s use of narrative paradigm to articulate methods by which this ethical transition may be achieved. An argumentative trend is documented across the three fantasies through the representation of situation, problem and solution. In each text, as the Secondary World becomes more completely a closed physical system, the source of the solution to the problem caused by the transcendent presence and the achievement of ethical transition are both relocated within the control of human actors. The three fantasies express a gradual movement toward the acceptance of not only human responsibility for, but the necessity for action to remedy, the damaged state of the world. I argue that the texts’ dominant concern is with the human relationship with and to context. Indeed, I argue that the three fantasies reflect the developing understanding of the human role in not only precipitating, but responding to, environmental crisis, and may function as both a reflection of and an intervention in that crisis. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2004

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 245-255). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p9963445.