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Medievalism #12
Medievalism in A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones
One of the biggest attractions of George R.R. Martin's high fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire , and by extension its HBO television adaptation, Game of Thrones , is its claim to historical realism. The author, thedirectors and producers of the adaptation, and indeed the fans of the books and show, all lay claim to Westeros, its setting, as representative of an authentic medieval world. But how true are these claims? Is it possible to faithfully represent a time so far removed from our own in time and culture? And what does an authentic medieval fantasy world look like?
This book explores Martin's and HBO's approaches to and beliefs about the Middle Ages and how those beliefs fall into traditional medievalist and fantastic literary patterns. Examining both books and programme from a range of critical approaches - medievalism theory, gender theory, queer theory, postcolonial theory, andrace theory - Dr Carroll analyzes how the drive for historical realism affects the books' and show's treatment of men, women, people of colour, sexuality, and imperialism, as well as how the author and showrunners discuss these effects outside the texts themselves.
SHILOH CARROLL teaches in the writing center at Tennessee State University.
Table of Contents
Martin and Medievalist Fantasy
Chivalric Romance and Anti-Romance
Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender Relations
Sex and Sexuality
Postcolonialism, Slavery, and the Great White Hope
Adaptation and Reception
Afterword
Bibliography
This book explores Martin's and HBO's approaches to and beliefs about the Middle Ages and how those beliefs fall into traditional medievalist and fantastic literary patterns. Examining both books and programme from a range of critical approaches - medievalism theory, gender theory, queer theory, postcolonial theory, andrace theory - Dr Carroll analyzes how the drive for historical realism affects the books' and show's treatment of men, women, people of colour, sexuality, and imperialism, as well as how the author and showrunners discuss these effects outside the texts themselves.
SHILOH CARROLL teaches in the writing center at Tennessee State University.
Table of Contents
Martin and Medievalist Fantasy
Chivalric Romance and Anti-Romance
Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender Relations
Sex and Sexuality
Postcolonialism, Slavery, and the Great White Hope
Adaptation and Reception
Afterword
Bibliography
214 pages, Hardcover
Published March 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 22, 2021
"The capacity and willingness to do violence is expected of the noblemen of Westeros, and any suggestion that they are incapable or unwilling is an affront to their honor. These expectations can leave men deeply damaged in ways that they may not even recognize, and cannot admit if they do. Jaime, for example, has no mechanism for coping with emotional stress except dissociation, and he teaches Tommen to do the same. Sandor Clegane struggles with pyrophobia from his brother holding his face to the fire when he was a child, leaving horrible scars, but whenever it becomes a problem, he is called a coward despite his otherwise loyal service to the Lannisters, in which he does everything asked of him (except strike Sansa)."
Are you ready for the deep dive? If so, Shiloh Carroll has all but paved the Kingsroad for you in this methodical and meticulously researched study of the structure underpinning George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's adaptation of it: Game of Thrones.
We are provided with an overview of Martin's career and a brief history of fantasy fiction in order to put the work in its appropriate context. We take a look at Martin's publicly-stated intent with regard to his opus and the manner in which the story, by turns, both upholds and undercuts that aim. We are introduced to the tropes of the genre and shown the many ways in which the lion's share of them have been deliberately subverted. This material is examined through many lenses, among them medievalism theory, gender theory, queer theory, postcolonial theory, and race theory - all of which are astonishingly well-presented. There is little whiff of the dusty chalkboards of academia here; instead we are gifted with the vibrant (and example-rich) exploration of a fairly complicated saga by a fertile mind so well-attuned to its subject that it never fails - and I mean never fails - to make anything less than an excellent point. Color me awed; it's the only crayon Shiloh Carroll has left for me.
This was an expensive book. Worth every penny.
Are you ready for the deep dive? If so, Shiloh Carroll has all but paved the Kingsroad for you in this methodical and meticulously researched study of the structure underpinning George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's adaptation of it: Game of Thrones.
We are provided with an overview of Martin's career and a brief history of fantasy fiction in order to put the work in its appropriate context. We take a look at Martin's publicly-stated intent with regard to his opus and the manner in which the story, by turns, both upholds and undercuts that aim. We are introduced to the tropes of the genre and shown the many ways in which the lion's share of them have been deliberately subverted. This material is examined through many lenses, among them medievalism theory, gender theory, queer theory, postcolonial theory, and race theory - all of which are astonishingly well-presented. There is little whiff of the dusty chalkboards of academia here; instead we are gifted with the vibrant (and example-rich) exploration of a fairly complicated saga by a fertile mind so well-attuned to its subject that it never fails - and I mean never fails - to make anything less than an excellent point. Color me awed; it's the only crayon Shiloh Carroll has left for me.
This was an expensive book. Worth every penny.
June 13, 2018
This is a good discussion on how Song/GoT is constructed from medievalisms -- which is to say, medieval history at secondhand, as interpreted through the Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite craze (arch-romantics) and then the Tolkien century. Constructed in the sense that Martin is anti-romantic, so that in effect GoT is a kick in the teeth to the Victorians and their heirs. In a nice irony, he comes close to real medieval romance, which concerned itself with questions of violence.
Most valuable to me was the discussion of Martin's (and his fans') claim to 'realism' about the Middle Ages. Whose realism? Carroll does wonderfully well in explaining the levels and the issues in that claim to realism.
This is a different sort of book than Carolyne Larrington's Winter Is Coming: The Medieval World of Game of Thrones. The latter is about the medieval history GoT draws on, written for fans. Carroll's is more analytic, a criticism of GoT (novels and TV). For me, she is a bit kind to Martin and his intentions, chiefly on his conscious deconstruction of toxic masculinity. But I am not a Martin expert. Another way to say that might be that this book is still fan-friendly.
Most valuable to me was the discussion of Martin's (and his fans') claim to 'realism' about the Middle Ages. Whose realism? Carroll does wonderfully well in explaining the levels and the issues in that claim to realism.
This is a different sort of book than Carolyne Larrington's Winter Is Coming: The Medieval World of Game of Thrones. The latter is about the medieval history GoT draws on, written for fans. Carroll's is more analytic, a criticism of GoT (novels and TV). For me, she is a bit kind to Martin and his intentions, chiefly on his conscious deconstruction of toxic masculinity. But I am not a Martin expert. Another way to say that might be that this book is still fan-friendly.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews