Category Archives: Kerishma

Research Consultation, Kerishma

Fall 2013, Kerishma

We began this appointment by talking about Kerishma’s current secondary source research and her goals for that research. In addition to the books from last week, Lindsey suggested Tor.com’s A Song of Ice and Fire discussion, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database, and Strange Horizons. Our general goal is to boost Kerishma’s current reading in the history of the fantasy genre with current material about Martin’s series specifically. The SFFRD includes both scholarly and journalistic materials, and Tor hires prominent professional and semi-professional writers for its blogs, making both of them quality sources within this field.

After that, we devoted much of our discussion to project management, thinking both about specific tools Kerishma might use (including Zotero for sources and citations, SelfControl and focus booster for a productive working experience, and Mural.ly for a virtual whiteboard/keeping a handle on the big picture) and about the intellectual scope of her paper. Recognizing the need to firmly ground this thesis in the fantasy genre, the desire to discuss the question of book-to-TV adaptation, and the real possibility that this project could get quite unwieldy, Lindsey suggested Kerishma organize her paper around 3-4 themes (with adaptation as one of those themes), and then discuss each of the five characters which interest her in relationship to each theme. If the information about the fantasy genre could serve as a sort of extended introduction or launchpad for thematic analysis, this would allow Kerishma to familiarize her audience with her field without having to explain every last bit of the worldbuilding of A Song of Ice and Fire. Just as people write about The Lord of the Rings without spending tons of time explaining “what hobbits are,” our goal here is to write about Martin’s books without letting the focus simply divert back towards an explanation of the universe in which the books are set.

Once Kerishma is generally set on the themes she wishes to analyze, Lindsey suggested a follow-up meeting in November to specifically address relevant pieces of literary theory as ballast for those sections. (The idea being not to read all of Derrida, say, but to find the tiny piece of Derrida that might be relevant to the paper and build it into the draft.)

Kerishma is applying to graduate school for next year; Lindsey discussed the particulars of the GRE Subject Test in Literature in English and noted that ETS’s practice materials [PDF] give a good overview of what the exam will be like. Given that Kerishma isn’t yet certain of her area of specialization, Lindsey suggested focusing primarily on MA programs, and noted UChicago’s MA in the Humanities, CCNY’s MA in English with a focus in Literature, and the Graduate Center’s MA in Liberal Studies as three good starting points for future doctoral studies in a subfield of Kerishma’s choosing. While Kerishma’s thesis is not going to be her writing sample, Lindsey suggested she mention that she is writing a thesis in her application letters. We also discussed setting up in-person meetings with faculty in the New York area and the nature of the personal statement.

Lindsey would be happy to meet with anyone else thinking about graduate school in the humanities, or to answer questions about it via e-mail.

10/8: What I Did This Week

Kerishma
  • Went rooting for some titles on the theory of fantasy and fantasy literature in general in the Hunter stacks. Found some titles that could prove to be useful, and am excited to go through them!
    Photo0113
  • Reached out again to Professor Dow Robbins about being my advisor.
  • Meditated on my intended audience. While I can expect a good amount of people to be familiar in some way with the modern popular works of fantasy (Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, HBO’s Game of Thrones, etc), I obviously can’t expect them to be familiar with the history of the genre. I’d like to make my thesis as accessible to as many people as possible, so one of my projects is to try not to get lost in the more esoteric aspects of my topic. My big concern is being able to accurately explain the complexities of the storylines and characters without getting lost or leaving anything important out.

ETA: The printer at MHC wasn’t working, so here’s the “crisp paragraph” that was due today!

For my thesis, I would like to investigate the depictions of women and power in the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin. I will first present a brief history and survey of the fantasy genre, as well as a selection of notable female characters and character tropes in the genre. I will then place the Ice and Fire novels within this context, (hopefully) demonstrating why Martin’s women and works are so important and progressive within the fantasy tradition. I will follow the character arcs of several female characters rather than on all of them, as there are too many to count. I will also touch upon the HBO adaptation of the novels, Game of Thrones,  and examine its own representations of gender and power. I will need to examine film theory and the process of adaptation for this component of my paper.

I am still working on the “so what?” of my paper – Martin has powerful and diverse women in his universe–so what? I’m thinking about delving into one of the functions of fantasy as a critique of the real world, and connecting the diversity of Martin’s women to the importance of women and power in the real world.

Some titles I am perusing at the moment mostly deal with the theory, function, and history of the fantasy genre:

  • The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature by Brian Attebery
  • Merlin’s Daughters by Charlotte Spivack
  • Bridges to Fantasy by Eric S. Rabkin
  • Other Worlds” The Fantasy Genre by John Timmerman

Resources for Science Fiction Research

Fall 2013, Kerishma

Some General Updates, and Character Musings

Kerishma

Apologies for my absence last week!

In terms of research, what I’ve been doing is mostly looking into works on the fantasy genre: its history, its function, the theory behind it, etc. I’ve found some books that are making their way to me via the CUNY library system, so we’ll see how it goes!

I’ve also been thinking on my characters for my thesis, and this is a writeup I did that I meant to hand out in class, but my printer wasn’t cooperating:

For my thesis, I think I will focus on several important women and follow their trajectory throughout the Song of Ice & Fire novels.

Two characters I think that need to be discussed together are the sisters Sansa and Arya Stark. Each presents a very different image of femininity: Sansa is ladylike and loves romance and chivalry, whereas Arya would much prefer to wield her own sword. Though it would be easy to fall into the trap of scorning Sansa’s traditional femininity and glorifying Arya’s inclination towards traditional masculinity, Martin puts them both into situations that play to their strengths. Sansa’s quietness and love for courtly values—traits that are often conflated with weakness or dimwittedness—pay off when she is a political prisoner during the war in the Red Keep. Arya’s aggressiveness pays off as she battles her way through Westeros and across the Narrow Sea into Essos.

Another pair of characters who I like to look at side by side are Cersei Lannister and Catelyn Stark. On the surface, they couldn’t appear more different: Cersei is scheming and cunning, constantly craving political power, while Catelyn is much more measured and maintains her own honor code. But they are also incredibly similar: they both were married off in political alliances during and after Robert’s Rebellion, they both derive much of their power from their roles as mothers, both have proven that they would do anything to protect their children, both wielded a certain amount of political power, and both were, at some point, the mothers of a kings. How each chose to use her power is what I find fascinating. I would also like to explore Cersei as one of the primary villains of the series, and what it means for a woman to be cast as a villain while still being a three-dimensional character.

Other characters I would like to examine are Daenerys, the exiled princess set to reclaim her homeland of Westeros, and Brienne of Tarth, a woman who chose the life of a warrior instead of a lady.