Fantasy, sci-fi, and speculative fiction in general are often considered niche genres that are of limited interest to a wider readership. The benefit of this perception is that there is little pressure for speculative authors to conform their writing to the expectations of a general reader and rather values complex world building with elaborate systems […]
Despite the fact that I have been a university student for the past eight years, staring down the reading list for my PhD comprehensive exam is the first time I have felt truly overwhelmed by the literary task set in front of me. I am starting a PhD in Theory and Criticism this fall, the […]
The beaten and bloodied sole survivor traversing a field of dust is replaced by a smiling monk riding down a forested path. This calmer scene is the vision of the future that Becky Chambers presents in her novella A Psalm for the Wild Built and its sequel A Prayer for the Crown Shy which follow […]
I always find reading Billy-Ray Belcourt challenging, his work pulls at the threads of hidden assumption in my thinking about the world while also creating a space where I feel seen, and held with a level of care and compassion that is so often lacking in the wider world. In particular, his debut novel A […]
With fashion resurgences and a 2012 movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby captures not just a period of time, the 1920s in America, but a lifestyle that seems to be perennially fascinating to a wide audience. However, it is very much a product of its time and lacks representations of […]
I find critical theory deeply fascinating and enjoyable to read. Partially because I like the challenge of dense texts that build up specialized vocabularies to try, and partially because, for me at least, they create a space to unpack the affective experiences of culture. Despite my personal love of theory, I am also very aware […]
In one of my photography courses this past semester we talked about the idea of ‘darkest Africa’ and how images of the continent intentionally excluded the evidence of the cultures that already existed in order to present a view of Africa as an empty place for Europeans to come in and illuminate through industrial development. […]
For most readers David Robertson’s The Barren Grounds will be in many ways a familiar stroll through something similar to C.S. Lewis’s Narnia. But despite all the ways in which this new Candian book for young readers parallels the classic story, The Barren Grounds is a powerful challenge to European ways of knowing that challenges […]
There is nothing particularly wrong with young adult fiction, it makes readers out of people who might not otherwise pick up a book, but it does rely on a different set of tropes. The ‘magic pixie dream girl’ trope is one of many to becoming a mainstay in teen books and is also the subject of mocking from the wider literary world. Some of that mocking is well deserved as it speaks to the continuing unrealistic representations of young women in media, but other aspects are just traits that make characters interesting to read about – especially in the kind of light fantasy that dominates YA books.
Lord of the Rings is not known for its subtle layers of moral complexity. There is no flicker of doubt regarding Sauron’s evil plans or the innate goodness of hobbits. JRR Tolkien was consistent in his use of clear moral coding both with characters and with world building which is particularly clear in the contrasting […]
Res Gestae 