Description
Book Synopsis While all fiction uses words to construct models of the world for readers, nowhere is this more obvious than in fantasy fiction. Epic fantasy novels create elaborate secondary worlds entirely out of language, yet the writing style used to construct those worlds has rarely been studied in depth. This book builds the foundations for a study of style in epic fantasy. Close readings of selected novels by such writers as Steven Erikson, Ursula Le Guin, N. K. Jemisin and Brandon Sanderson offer insights into the significant implications of fantasy''s use of syntax, perspective, paratexts, frame narratives and more. Re-examining critical assumptions about the reading experience of epic fantasy, this work explores the genre''s reputation for flowery, archaic language and its ability to create a sense of wonder. Ultimately, it argues that epic fantasy shapes the way people think, examining how literary representation and style influence perception.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Introduction: Building Worlds with Words in Epic Fantasy
- Section I: Syntactic Complexity
- Chapter 1.
- "The Riotous Conflagration of Beauteous Language": Flowery Style, Defamiliarization, and Empathic Imagination
- Chapter 2.
- "A Necessary Subtraction": Simplicity, the Violent Emotion of Editing, and the Editing of Violence
- Section II: Narrative Perspective
- Chapter 3.
- Third-Person Heroism: Authority, Omnipotent Narration, and the Distribution of Visibility
- Chapter 4.
- First-Person Epic Novels: Metafantasy and Fluid Perspective
- Section III: Wonder
- Chapter 5.
- Spoiler Alert: Twists, the Sense of Wonder, and Narrative Transcendence
- Chapter 6.
- The Mundane Fantastic: Stylistic Magic and Genre Collisions
- Section IV: Narrative Frames
- Chapter 7.
- Narrative Frames: Paratexts, Blurred Boundaries, and the Deconstruction of Essentialist Narrative
- Chapter 8.
- Frame Narratives: Historical Truth, Literal Metaphors, and Epic Irony
- Chapter Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
