Unicorns Are Not Real and Neither Are You: Peter S. Beagle's Postmodern Fairy Tale

<p>Although considered by many readers to be a “cult classic,” Peter S. Beagle’s 1968 novel <em>The Last Unicorn</em> has been unrepresented in literary scholarship. Many fantasy critics in the past have dismissed the work as lacking a sense of reality through its mixing of modern language with a medieval, fantasy setting. However, the novel’s purposeful muddling of reality raises questions of ontology and the nature of storytelling/world-projection. The objective of this study is to not only to act as a sort of apologetic for <em>The Last Unicorn</em>, but also read the novel in the context of fairy tale/mythic studies and postmodern theory—specifically through the critical lenses of Bruno Bettelheim, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Barth, and Brian McHale. By simultaneously deconstructing and following fairy tale conventions/tropes, <em>The Last Unicorn</em> offers its reader a postmodern story that explores the reality of fiction. The complex merging of reality and myth demonstrates <em>The Last Unicorn</em>’s literary merit and paves the way for future postmodern fantasy works.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts - English

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Hayes, Athena

Contributors dc:contributor

• Michael Martin
• Kevin West
• Steven Marsden

• Peter S. Beagle
• The Last Unicorn
• postmodernism
• John Barth
• American literature
• fairy tale
• Literature in English, North America

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/370

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1403