The Monstrous Fantastic Conference Paper Abstracts - International ...

142. (F) Maps, and Ankh-Morpork and Game of Thrones PalmChair: A. P. CanavanEdgehill UniversityFantasy City Maps: The Cases of Erikson, Lynch, and MiévilleStefan EkmanLund UniversityAlthough the overwhelming majority of the maps that come with fantasy novels portrays the geography of a primary or secondary world,somewhere between two and twelve per cent of the fantasy maps are in fact maps of cities. Like all maps, the fantasy city maps reflect thechoices (conscious and unconscious) of cartographers and mapmakers and a “close reading” of such maps can reveal a great deal about theunderlying assumptions of the genre of fantasy city maps as well as about the how each map relates to the setting it portrays. In a previousdiscussion two maps from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, I have demonstrated how paying close attention to fantasy maps as maps can revealthings about the maps beyond the elements used in their construction. In my paper for ICFA 2012, I propose to discuss some of the results froma close reading of the city maps in Steven Erikson’s Gardens of the Moon, Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Loch Lamora, and China Miéville’s PerdidoStreet Station. Even a cursory view of these three examples will reveal that they are thematically different from city map genre of actual cities.Rather than mapping specific locations and offering possible routes between these locations by inclusion of various roads and streets, thefantasy city maps mainly appear to focus on the spatial relationships between various areas. Taking this focus on relative locations of urbandistricts as my point of departure, I will use theories of map interpretation suggested by a number of map scholars (in particular Denis Wood) toexamine what the three fantasy city maps can tell us about the places they help bring into being – and how they do it.“Because It Works”: Terry Pratchett’s Ankh-Morpork as Anti-UtopiaAnnette Doblix KlempUniversity of Wisconsin-River FallsTerry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, particularly those featuring the city state of Anhk-Morpork present a view that is decidedly anti-utopian.Unlike dystopian novels, which typically show how well-intentioned political schemes have gone awry, Pratchett’s underlying theme is thatutopian impulses are themselves inherently evil because they are suppressive and life-denying. As Pratchett indicates through a large cast ofcomic eccentrics, the city “works” because it appeals to man’s inherent selfishness and self-interest. While Ankh-Morpork is a setting for manyof the Discworld novels, my paper will deal primarily with The Colour of Magic, Guards! Guards! and The Thief of Time. The Colour of Magicintroduces Ankh-Morpork, but in this novel, the city is primarily a background for Pratchett’s satire of “sword-and-sorcery” fantasy. Guards!Guards! deals in depth with the anti-utopian philosophy which governs the city state. Ankh-Morpork’s Guild system regulates crime by theparadox of catering to organized crime. Under this system, the Thieves’ Guild gets paid by the citizens for not committing crimes and, in turn,acts as a police force that discourages and punishes crime committed by non-guild members. While the majority of Discworld’s inhabitants areruled by self-interest, Pratchett acknowledges the need for leadership. Ironically, the Patrician, the most powerful figure in the city is a comicrendering of many of the virtues attributed by Plato to his philosopher-king or H. G. Wells to his samurai. As a rational and intelligent leader,the Patrician’s most important characteristic is his ability to known “when not to use power.” Rather than try to improve and educate thepopulace, the Patrician defends and improves their city. While my focus is on the three novels mentioned above, one of the primarycharacteristics of Ankh-Morpork is the growth and development it displays as the series develops: the City Watch grows in size andeffectiveness, acceptance of species diversity is promoted, a communication systems (the Clacks) is established, and a functioning postalsystem and currency are instituted. The Thief of Time presents the dangers posed by utopian idealism. The Auditors, who find humanindividuality too “messy and unpredictable,” wish to improve the world by stopping time and, thereby, eradicating any possibility of change ordifference. Their desires precisely illustrate what many have found to be some of the major difficulties with utopia: its stifling of creativity andindividuality and its static, unchanging quality. While Pratchett’s heroes help to defeat the Auditors, the human physical condition itself islargely responsible for their downfall. What the Auditors learn is that the possession of a body makes complete rationality impossible: theybicker among themselves, and physical sensation (particularly chocolate) eventually leads to their own irrationality and self-destruction. Mypaper will conclude by contrasting Pratchett’s comic satire to the seriousness of most utopian and dystopian fiction, whether found in thegenres of science fiction or fantasy. Typically, the tone prevailing throughout the majority of utopian and dystopian works is somber. Incontrast, Pratchett celebrates the eccentricity of characters existing in a world which sets few, but clearly defined limits upon their expressionsof individuality.Monstrous Births and the Abject in Martin’s Game of ThronesElizabeth KemptonSaint Louis UniversityIn this paper, I will explore the popular HBO television series, Game of Thrones and its inspiration, George R. R. Martin’s series of fantasy novels,The Song of Ice and Fire. Particularly, I’m interested in mapping the character of Daenerys Targaryen and her configuration as both a Lilith-likemother of monsters and a messianic ruler. Early in the television show and books, Daenerys conceives a stillborn and deformed child. After thischild’s death, Daenerys goes on to experience a second monstrous birth. She walks into her stillborn child and husband’s pyre, holding threepetrified dragon eggs and emerges, nude, clearly nursing three young dragons. This is currently the season finale of the television series. Themoment appears empowering. The book series complicates Daenerys’s relationship to her dragons. She is consistently referred to as “themother of dragons” and at first she is quite affectionate of and maternal with the dragons, but her horror grows as the dragons mature. Thishorror cumulates in a scene in which Daenerys learns that one of her dragons has killed a child. In terror, Daenerys orders the dragons confinedunderground. Yet ultimately, these dragons are clearly positioned by the prophecies of the books as a military asset which Daenerys mustmaster if she is to assume her mythical role as a leader. What I propose interpretively, then, is that both the television show and the books aremapping a sense of coming to terms with Kristeva’s abject through the figure of the monstrous child. Daenerys is forced to confront and