The quest for identity in children's high and wainscots fantasy

Young, Aedon (2013) The quest for identity in children's high and wainscots fantasy. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (4MB)

Abstract

Like Wilkie-Stibbs, I draw upon the work of Lacan and Kristeva to connect children's fantasy to the feminine Imaginary. My focus is the sub-genres of high and wainscots fantasy. In the first analytical chapter, using a psychoanalytical and semiotic lens, I explore how the protagonist follows a quest to define identity in which the concept of true names is often an underlying motif. Using the critical themes of resistance, agency, and emancipation, I link the quest to the problematic post-modem view of truth and with the post-colonial concept of hybridity. In the second analytical chapter, I focus on fantasy fiction's depiction of the soul and the contrast between the natural order and immortality. Issues of concern are knowledge and power. In the third analytical chapter, I relate the fantasy quest motif to my own naming and to how I equate my views on the soul, the natural world, and mortality with those of a fantasy protagonist.

Actions (login required)

View Item