Heroics and humanism: A study of intra-genre divergence within modern French fantasy literature

This study explores the manner in which modern French fantasy novels have diverged from the Tolkienian, high-fantasy precedent established in the late 90s and the very early 2000s. From 2010–2020, authors Jean-Philippe Jaworski, Justine Niogret, Pierre Pevel, and Claire Duvivier have re-imagined the fantasy realm by deliberately working in opposition to the tropes of high-fantasy. The following work is split into two segments–the first of which analyzes how this high-fantasy divergence manifests within the evolved role of the hero, as it pertains to Jaworski, Pevel, and Niogret. The latter tackles the inverse, being the de-heroized, humanist approach of Duvivier that further depicts how the genre continues to evolve. Through a varying theoretical framework, this interdisciplinary work establishes that the following novels mutually support one another in an effort to diverge from the historic, high-fantasy precedent: Jaworski's Gagner la guerre (2009), Niogret's Chien du heaume (2010), Pevel's Le Chevalier (2015), Duvivier's Un long voyage (2020).

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Foreign Languages, Cultures, and Literatures

Department dc:contributor.department

Foreign Languages

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Sielaff, Kevin Michael

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Dickow, Alexander

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Johnson, Sharon P.
• Shryock, Richard L.

• French
• fantasy
• Jaworski
• Niogret
• Pevel
• Duvivier
• heroics
• hero
• heroine
• divergence
• standard
• Tolkien

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:34790

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/110837