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This book provides a brief scholarly introduction to A Game of Thrones, the first volume of George R. R. Martin's ongoing series A Song of Ice and Fire. The book examines Martin's novel as a shrewd, genre-literate utilization of commonplaces and imperatives of its genre. Young focuses on various aspects of Martin's worldbuilding, as well as his use of fantasy to manage and utilize narrative tension. The overall polemic thrust of the book will be that Martin's novel displays his ability to manage the inherent tension between literary convention and innovation, producing something that is both an admirable essay in genre and a strong platform for distinctive author.
List of contents
Chapter 1 : The Pre-Game Show.- Chapter 2 : Interrogating the Middle Ages.- Chapter 3 : Constructing and deconstructing gender.- Chapter 4: Lowering the tone world-building and critique.- Chapter 5: Turning theme into plot.- Chapter 6 :Conclusions.
About the author
Joseph Rex Young is a scholar of the history and rhetoric of the literary supernatural, currently based in Dunedin, New Zealand. He is the author of various academic publications, most notably his book George R.R. Martin and the Fantasy Form (2019). He has taught at universities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, India and New Zealand.
Summary
This book provides a brief scholarly introduction to A Game of Thrones, the first volume of George R. R. Martin's ongoing series A Song of Ice and Fire. The book examines Martin's novel as a shrewd, genre-literate utilization of commonplaces and imperatives of its genre. Young focuses on various aspects of Martin's worldbuilding, as well as his use of fantasy to manage and utilize narrative tension. The overall polemic thrust of the book will be that Martin's novel displays his ability to manage the inherent tension between literary convention and innovation, producing something that is both an admirable essay in genre and a strong platform for distinctive author.
