Kulturowe gry w „Grze o tron”
Cultural Games in the “Game of Thrones”
Contributor(s): Beata Gontarz (Editor)
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Library and Information Science, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, Film / Cinema / Cinematography, Sociology of Art
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: fantasy; destruction of a myth; archetypes; picaresque novel; religion; magic; the Middle Ages; prehistory
Summary/Abstract: The monograph has been written as an effect of the meetings of “Matrix” – Students’ Popular Culture Research Circle at the University of Silesia. The young researchers in the field of popular culture, deriving knowledge from the experts on the subjects they have been studying at university: cultural studies, media studies, literary studies, and history, attempted to look critically at measures adopted by the author of the “Game of Thrones” which resulted in creating the universe that appears to be attractive to a member of contemporary culture. The researchers have shown that Martin reaches for our contemporary judgements about the world and human beings: we live in the state of dispersal, disorder, and the blurring of rules. He seems to accentuate strongly the lack of arche, the loss of foundations, which corresponds with the postmodern time context that the cycle has been created in. The authors of this book, on the one hand, have examined the rules of involving the reader in the well-known fantasy genre, and, on the other hand – of suggesting the clues to help them find novelty, difference, and originality. The title of the monograph seemed natural. Not only as an effective word game referring to the idea of George R. R. Martin: a game (for what? – the authors of the monograph try to answer this question) is introduced by the author to the universe of Westeros. It is also a proposal for a new research method, namely, for indicating new cultural areas of reference used by Martin, such as: chaos juxtaposed with linearity of history, the religious orderliness, and the power of magic, illustrating human fears, feeling of loss, and searching for identity, the deconstruction of archetypal models as well as compositional and feature structures.
- E-ISBN-13: 978-83-226-3052-5
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-83-226-3051-8
- Page Count: 156
- Publication Year: 2016
- Language: English, Polish
Indeks osobowy
Indeks osobowy
(Index)
- Author(s):Not Specified Author
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Social Sciences
- Page Range:151-153
- No. of Pages:3
Tworzenie quasi‑średniowiecznego świata w cyklu Pieśń lodu i ognia G.R.R. Martina
Tworzenie quasi‑średniowiecznego świata w cyklu Pieśń lodu i ognia G.R.R. Martina
(Creating the Quasi-medieval World in G.R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire)
- Author(s):Michał Sapalski
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Library and Information Science
- Page Range:11-28
- No. of Pages:18
- Summary/Abstract:This paper aims at analysing the creation of the world in A Song of Ice and Fire, which combines together fantastic elements with the ones imitating the medieval reality and results in such a convincing work that an impression of reading a historical novel is created. In order to do so, the article identifies such aspects recurring within the series as the deconstruction of chivalric ideals and the historical, cultural, and even geographical analogies between the British Isles and the fictional world of Westeros. Moreover, the paper critically investigates the manner in which Martin provides his readers with information concerning the history of the fictional continent. As it turns out, he simultaneously embeds his work in the events and phenomena from the past which are not necessarily known to the average reader, and seeks inspiration in the popular image of the Middle Ages, rather than its actual shape, as reconstructed by numerous scholars.
- Price: 4.50 €
Prehistoria w Pieśni lodu i ognia
Prehistoria w Pieśni lodu i ognia
(Prehistory in A Song of Ice and Fire)
- Author(s):Aneta Kruc
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):History, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts
- Page Range:29-48
- No. of Pages:20
- Summary/Abstract:The article attempts to identify the inspirations which G.R.R. Martin derives from the contemporary studies of prehistory. Unlike Tolkien, who was deeply indebted to German myths, Martin encapsulates yore in his work, stimulating the imagination of a reader in the 21st century with a power not weaker than that of any mythology. The predominant scienceinfluencing Martin in his creation of the quasi-Pleistocene of Westeros and Essos is palaeontology. Nevertheless, Martin equally well manages to revive the human culture of the actual prehistoric times. Consequently, he mostly draws upon the physical anthropology and archaeology. In order to depict the distant past of Westeros, Martin divides its times into threeperiods, resembling the traditional classification of prehistory into the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. The strategy adopted by Martin serves a twofold function; on the onehand, it allows him to oppose the rational world of Westeros to the lands beyond the Wall, tossed by magical forces, while on the other – it recalls the recent interest in the mysteries of prehistory embedded in popular culture, and by doing so it makes the universe of A Song of Ice and Fire familiar to readers.
- Price: 4.50 €
The Monster outside and the one within: the departure from the Tolkienesque concept of monstrosity in the books of G.R.R. Martin
The Monster outside and the one within: the departure from the Tolkienesque concept
of monstrosity in the books of G.R.R. Martin
(The Monster outside and the one within: the departure from the Tolkienesque concept
of monstrosity in the books of G.R.R. Martin)
- Author(s):Miła Irek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Library and Information Science
- Page Range:49-61
- No. of Pages:13
- Summary/Abstract:There is no doubt about the impact of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien on the fantasy genre, and since G.R.R. Martin is often referred to as the new – or American – Tolkien, comparative studies are practically inevitable. Both authors created great epics set firmly within their own secondary worlds. Tolkien famously proclaimed that he was creating a mythology for England, while Martin affirms his strong inspirations in historical fiction and history in general. Both Arda and Westeros are set in a pseudomedieval fantasy universe, inhabited by various creatures and monsters. Yet, are those monsters the same? For Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring is essentially only one small tale in a wider, more relevant story of the world as a whole. As such, not only the characters or the protagonists, but also the monsters are all merely a small part of a larger picture; they are products of the ever changing wheel of time. In contrast, Martin’s Westeros feels like a mere backdrop for the real stories: the intimate affairs of the numerous complex characters. The monsters, therefore, are also more personal, internal, and harder to find and distinguish from the heroes.
- Price: 4.50 €
Tożsamość w kontekście religii i magii w Pieśni lodu i ognia
Tożsamość w kontekście religii i magii w Pieśni lodu i ognia
(Identity in the Context of Religion and Magic in A Song of Ice and Fire)
- Author(s):Karolina Glück
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):History, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Library and Information Science, Theology and Religion
- Page Range:67-87
- No. of Pages:25
- Summary/Abstract:This article takes as its starting point the statements of two fantasy writers – Orson Scott Card and George R.R. Martin – concerning the significance of creating religious systems in fictional universes, as they complete the overall image of the depicted reality. Another context is provided by the investigations of a Polish scholar, Bogdan Trocha, which show that in the fantasy genre there occurs a degradation of the function of religion, resulting in the remythologisation deprived of cult. The first part of this paper presents the synthetic overview of religions through which Martin characterises the communities of his world and the analysis of functions of the chosen magical elements used in A Song of Ice and Fire. In the second part, identity dilemmas of Martin’s characters are taken into consideration. On the example of Theon Greyjoy’s lot, the spiritual aspect of searching for identity – determined by the elements of the quest described by Trocha – is examined.
- Price: 4.50 €
Archetypy (nie)kobiecości w uniwersum Pieśni lodu i ognia
Archetypy (nie)kobiecości w uniwersum Pieśni lodu i ognia
(Archetypes of (non-)Femininity in the Universe of A Song of Ice and Fire)
- Author(s):Justyna Skrzypnik
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Fine Arts / Performing Arts
- Page Range:89-119
- No. of Pages:31
- Summary/Abstract:The starting point for the analysis of the representations of femininity in Game of Thrones is the diagnosis of the declarative and real image of the social order in the depicted world. What is examined is the image of the three-person female deity – the Mother, the Maiden, and the Crone – in the pantheon of gods of Westeros and its influence on the construction of the world, grounded upon parallel sets of binary oppositions. The reinterpretation of Jung’s concept of the anima in the Mother, the Maiden, and the Crone as shown in the novels points to the impossibility of reviving the chivalry. The model that embraces Martin’s embodiments of female archetypes is the queen, in whom the aspects of the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone are combined both synchronically and diachronically. The image of the queen in the novels, exemplified by Daenerys Targaryen, is analysed in the light of two rites of passage determining the progress of transformation of the rational world into the supernatural and magical space.
- Price: 4.50 €
Pikareska a tendencje demitologizujące w Pieśni lodu i ognia
Pikareska a tendencje demitologizujące w Pieśni lodu i ognia
(The Picaresque and Demythologising Tendencies in A Song of Ice and Fire)
- Author(s):Daria Swędzioł
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Library and Information Science
- Page Range:121-142
- No. of Pages:22
- Summary/Abstract:This paper aims at identifying the demythologising tendencies present in A Song of Ice and Fire. Moreover, it points to the discussion with the heroic myth, which in the case of the fantasy genre Martin contributes to happens to be bounded with the chivalry. The model of a picaresque novel is employed on account of the pseudo-medieval embedment of the depicted world and the wide exposition of the themes of the road. Speaking from the perspective of genre criticism, this generic form appears to be a response to the idealism emanating from the chivalric romances. When the picaresque – understood as a polemical means opposing to the classic fantasy works rooted in the mythological context (for instance, The Lord of the Rings) – is concerned, Arya Stark demands a greater attention. The strategy adopted by Martin corresponds to Bogdan Trocha’s thesis concerning the degradation of a myth in fantasy literature. Simultaneously, it is one of the numerous tendencies popular among the contemporary texts of culture, dismantling the generic indicators and playing with literary conventions.
- Price: 4.50 €
Bibliografia
Bibliografia
(Bibliography)
- Author(s):Beata Gontarz
- Language:Polish
- Subject(s):Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life
- Page Range:143-149
- No. of Pages:7
- Price: 4.50 €
