WEEK SIX: The Hobbit

This week, I read Tolkien’s classic, The Hobbit. This iconic piece of folklore is about a hobbit named Bilbo who gets chosen to accompany a group of dwarves on a quest to take back stolen treasures. The plot itself has become such a huge part of the fantasy lexicon that I will not bore you with the summary, which everyone undoubtedly has heard by this point.

The book was a major player in the world of fantasy fiction. It paved the way for a new style of content and writing that stretches the boundaries of reality through fantasy. Tolkien was remarkably prolific in his world building abilities. He sculpts such an elaborate world for us that is elegant even in its smallest details that we believe it all to be real (or at least believable), no matter how outlandish the whole thing can be. The Hobbit is kind of unique in the realm of world building, as well. Tolkien is able to create a new world with unheard of things presented to us while still giving us rich stories that take place there. All the while, none of this feels as being too much on the reader to take in, because of how robustly Tolkien presents it to us. I found a great quote from C.S. Lewis describing the world of the hobbit as, “a world that seems to have been going on long before we stumbled into it but which, once found by the right reader, becomes indispensable to him.”

WEEK FIVE: Witches

Witches!

Witches hold an interesting place in the world of literary archetypes. They are one of the few character types that are gender specific in reference to women. A witch is a powerful woman with abilities normal people do not possess. They cast fear into those who get in their way. They represent an difference towards normal lifestyles and they embrace their femininity proudly while in opposition to masculinity. It is an archetype of empowerment.

For the week, I read Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones. The story is about a “normal” old woman, helpless and innocent as perceived, who lives in a town with other witches. The story starts pretty normally but escalates as the truth of the matters come to light.

Jones presents us with a witch but it’s not a witch that we are more typically expected to see. Her witch stands as the protagonist of the story, rather than some kind of evil being out to make lives so much worse. I think the classic trope of using a witch to display malicious intent is a fun one at best, but there’s so much to play with that I think it’s great to see it being explored further through this novel. We are given a witch that wants to be seen as quiet and frail but underneath that exterior lies a woman of great power. In terms of gender representation, I think Jones represents a woman of reality, guised underneath the witch persona. 

Week Four, Weird

Week Four, Three Moments of Weird

This week I read Three Moments of an Explosion and I came to the conclusion China Mieville is brilliantly weird, period. His work assaults you with its oddity in a way that makes you question what writing really is. It is not often that I read something and feel so entertained with the newness of that something’s content. Not only through his use of subject but in the way he presents it to us is something to be admired. For example, in “The Crawl,” he uses a screenplay to communicate with us, which fits the theme for this week because it immediately confuses us. This confusion is a big part of what defines the weird genre. The reader is meant to feel uncomfortable and surprised. The genre is not unwilling to take risks and sing out on things that other genres wouldn’t. 

I was reading a critical review on Mieville’s work and the reviewer was saying of Mieville’s work that there is a mystery and anonymity to the stories that make them so intriguing. I’ve talked about this before in one of my blog posts and we’ve talked about it in class but, this subtlety to storytelling can be so much more impactful than being obvious about the content. Allowing the reader to fill in the blanks means that the reader becomes an active participant in the work. 

Another thing to note about Three Moments of an Explosion is that it is written in short story format. The brevity of the narratives leaves you feeling astounded that such a fast read could possibly make you feel so moved in such a period of time. 

I think what is so compelling about this week’s topic is that unlike the other genres of horror and science fiction, these stories are just… weird. They tap into a part of you that the other genres can’t, simply by nature. With Mieville, I think the weird is immediately perceived by us as viewers. The fantasy of his stories takes place in worlds not unlike our own. This juxtaposition of reality and bizarre create a discomfort that some of us enjoy partaking in, if only for a few pages.