Gerold Sedlmayr

Nicole Waller

Fantasy is often condemned as escapist, unsophisticated and superficial. This collection of new essays puts such easy dismissals to the test by examining the ways in which Fantasy narratives present diverse, politically relevant discourses—gender, race, religion or consumerism—and thereby serve as indicators of their real-world contexts. Through their depiction of other worlds allegedly disconnected from our own, these texts are able to actualize political attitudes. Instead of categorizing Fantasy either as conservative or progressive, the essays suggest that its generic peculiarity allows the emergence of productive forms of oscillation between these extremes. Covered are J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire sequence, J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, the vampire TV series True Blood, and the dystopian computer game Fallout 3.

Essays on Ideology and Gender in Fiction, Film, Television and Games

Politics in Fantasy Media

Lars Eckstein

Anke Bartels

Dirk Wiemann

The term ‘postcolonial literatures in English’ designates English-language literatures from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania, as well as the literatures of diasporic communities who have moved from those regions to the global north. This volume introduces the central themes of postcolonial literary studies and delineates how these themes are reflected and elaborated in exemplary literary works by postcolonial authors from around the world. It also offers succinct definitions of key terms like Orientalism, hybridity, Indigeneity or writing back.

An Introduction

Postcolonial Literatures in English

Postcolonial Justice addresses a crucial issue in current postcolonial theory: the question of how to reconcile an ethics of diversity and difference with the normative, if not universal thrust that appears to energize any notion of justice.

Nicole Waller

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