Nature and the Numinous in Mythopoeic Fantasy Literature

by Chris Brawley, Donald E. Palumbo (Editor), C.W. Sullivan III (Editor)

Overview

This book makes connections between mythopoeic fantasy--works that engage the numinous--and the critical apparatuses of ecocriticism and posthumanism. Drawing from the ideas of Rudolf Otto in The Idea of the Holy, mythopoeic fantasy is a means of subverting normative modes of perception to both encounter the numinous and to challenge the perceptions of the natural world. Beginning with S.T. Coleridge's theories of the imagination as embodied in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the book moves on to explore standard mythopoeic fantasists such as George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Taking a step outside these men, particularly influenced by Christianity, the concluding chapters discuss Algernon Blackwood and Ursula Le Guin, whose works evoke the numinous without a specifically Christian worldview.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476615820
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	06/26/2014
Series:	Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy , #46
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	212
File size:	950 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Chris Brawley is a professor of religion, humanities and English at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Chris Brawley is a professor of religion, humanities and English at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Donald E. Palumbo is a professor of English at East Carolina University. He lives in Greenville, North Carolina.
C.W. Sullivan III is Distinguished Professor of arts and sciences at East Carolina University and a full member of the Welsh Academy. He is the author of numerous books and the on-line journal Celtic Cultural Studies.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction. Fantasy: Recovering What Was Lost
One. “Quieting the Eye”: The Perception of the Eternal through the Temporal in Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Two. The Ideal and the Shadow: George MacDonald’s Phantastes
Three. “Further Up and Further In”: Apocalypse and the New Narnia in C.S. Lewis’s The Last Battle
Four. The Fading of the World: Tolkien’s Ecology and Loss in The Lord of the Rings
Five. Affirming the World that Swerves: The ­Alter-Tales in Algernon Blackwood’s The Centaur and Ursula Le Guin’s Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences
Six. “A daisy is nearer heaven than an airship”: The Utopian Vision in Algernon Blackwood’s The Centaur
Seven. “Yes. You can keep your eye”: Ursula Le Guin’s Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences
Eight. The Sacramental Vision: Perceiving the World Anew
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Brawley puts a fresh spin on classic mythopoeic fantasy...his ideas are intriguing...recommended”—Choice; “enticing. Through interaction with fantasy literature, Brawley succeeds in widening the field of ecocriticism to include nonmimetic literature”—Oxford University Press Journals Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment.

From the Publisher