Year

2013

Degree Name

Dcotor of Philosophy

Department

School of Arts, English and Media

Abstract

This thesis examines two medievalist fantasy series by authors from former British settler cultures – The Old Kingdom Chronicles (1995- 2003) by Australian writer Garth Nix, and The Fionavar Tapestry (1985-1986) by Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay. I argue that although these texts are firmly situated in the realm of the imaginary, they are far from being culturally irrelevant. They are inescapably contemporary cultural products, strongly informed by the moments and places of their production, and revelatory of present aspirations and anxieties. I discuss the British and, more broadly, Western inflections at the centre of medievalist genre fantasy and examine how these impact on representations of ethnicity, gender and class within my chosen texts. This entails a consideration of how colonial legacies continue to inform the ways in which postcolonial settler cultures construct their own identities and view other cultures. I argue that the medieval temporal and spatial settings utilised by Nix and Kay create a privileged space, imbued with a sense of greater power, authority and authenticity than the present. Moreover, I argue that the power available to imaginings of the Middle Ages is appropriated by the authors as these fantasy texts engage discursively with debates of contemporary ideological significance.

FoR codes (2008)

200205 Culture, Gender, Sexuality, 200209 Multicultural, Intercultural and Cross-cultural Studies, 200502 Australian Literature (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Literature), 200599 Literary Studies not elsewhere classified

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Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.