AustLit logo

AustLit

y separately published work icon Blood Ties [and] 'Kings. What a Good Idea' : Monarchy in Epic Fantasy Fiction single work   thesis  
Issue Details: First known date: 2006... 2006 Blood Ties [and] 'Kings. What a Good Idea' : Monarchy in Epic Fantasy Fiction
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Blood Ties is a novel in the epic fantasy tradition. It is intended to be the first of 'The Castings Trilogy'. A synopsis of the second and third books of the trilogy is also included. The exegesis, '"Kings. What a Good Idea": Monarchy in Epic Fantasy Fiction', examines some of the reasons writers from democratic countries may choose to use monarchical political structures in epic fantasy novels. It considers evidence from folktale research, primate behavioural studies, literary traditions, both ancient and modern, and the effect of religious doctrine and history on the symbolic role of the monarch. Folktales are found to have had very little effect on the role of kings in epic fantasy, which has been influenced by a combination of literary traditions, including the Arthurian saga and the historical romances of Sir Walter Scott. More profoundly, the meaning of the king's role has been influenced by the Christian mythos in two ways: the king is a Christ surrogate who sacrifices his own safety for the good of the body politic and, in being successful against evil, restores a version of Paradise/Eden for his people. (Source: UTSiResearch website)

Notes

  • Thesis (Doctor of Creative Arts) University of Technology, Sydney.
  • Comprises a novel and a critical essay.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Link: Web resource Only the exegesis is available.
      2006 .
      Extent: iv, 384p.p.
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

y separately published work icon Blood Ties Pamela Freeman , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2007 Z1423445 2007 single work novel fantasy

'The Eleven Domains were forged in blood a thousand years ago. The blood is about to flow again. Bramble is as wild as the animals she follows deep into the forest near her village. Her dark eyes betray her heritage - she's a Traveller, one of the despised original people of the Domains. And for as long as she can remember, she has wanted to take to the Road like her grandfather. But the gods who dwell near the alders always say no ... In Turvite, where the ghosts drift along dark cobbled streets, Ash must leave his parents, and the Road, to begin an apprenticeship with the only person who will accept a Traveller - the scheming, yet irrestible, Doronit. But the gods who linger in the gloomy square have other plans for him ... From different ends of the Eleven Domains, death casts Bramble and Ash on journeys across valleys and mountains, deep into themselves and the dark history of their ancestors.'

Source: Australian 'blurb' from The Castings Trilogy website (Sighted 11/01/10)
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)
Last amended 31 Mar 2010 15:37:48
Subjects:
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X