Atli Dungal Sigurðsson | University of Iceland (original) (raw)
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Papers by Atli Dungal Sigurðsson
LUP Student Papers, 2016
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels set in Ankh-Morpork ar... more Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels set in Ankh-Morpork are similar enough that both can be treated as belonging to the subgenre of comic fantasy. The narratives foreground the fantastic, written to entertain and amuse its readers but also contain societal criticism in the form of satire or parody. This paper compares the unnatural aspects of Gulliver’s Travels and select City Watch instalments of Discworld. By using a combination of the fairly recent sub-discipline within narratology, unnatural narrative theory, and Genette’s question of “who speaks?”, this study analyses the narrators
and the different kinds of unnatural spaces in which they speak. The analysis is divided into four chapters as follows: how to read the unnatural in a narrative, what constitutes an unnatural space, the respective narrator’s voice, and finally, reliability of the narrators
within their unnatural space. It becomes apparent that the narrators are unreliable, not only in terms of controlling the information the reader is allowed access to within the narrative but also because of spatiotemporal ambiguity within the narratives.
Skemman, 2015
Wizards and magic have throughout history played a significant role within literature. While it i... more Wizards and magic have throughout history played a significant role within literature. While it is obvious that wizards can produce fantastic feats of power, their primary function is not always to conjure magic. The defining characteristic of wizards is displayed through the use of intellectual gifts in order to achieve their goals. This thesis investigates
such differences of intellect found between two wizards of modern literature, Gandalf from Tolkien‘s The Lord of the Rings and Harry Dresden from Butcher‘s The Dresden Files.
Using information found in Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales as well as relevant passages from Butcher’s novels, this thesis provides explanations regarding the two wizards’ respective origin in order to establish how they came by their magical abilities, and moreover, investigates whether or not they can be considered fully, or at all, human.
It further explores the respective worlds in which the two wizards reside and will show that there is a significant difference in how morality is presented within their storylines. It posits that Middle-earth does not portray the prevalent moral ambiguity that is present within the Dresdenverse.
Finally, it addresses a popular culture trope known as “manpain” and establishes its relevance to the two wizards, using the pertinent characteristics of each wizard in order to analyze whether or not the characters can be said to be manpained.
LUP Student Papers, 2016
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels set in Ankh-Morpork ar... more Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels set in Ankh-Morpork are similar enough that both can be treated as belonging to the subgenre of comic fantasy. The narratives foreground the fantastic, written to entertain and amuse its readers but also contain societal criticism in the form of satire or parody. This paper compares the unnatural aspects of Gulliver’s Travels and select City Watch instalments of Discworld. By using a combination of the fairly recent sub-discipline within narratology, unnatural narrative theory, and Genette’s question of “who speaks?”, this study analyses the narrators
and the different kinds of unnatural spaces in which they speak. The analysis is divided into four chapters as follows: how to read the unnatural in a narrative, what constitutes an unnatural space, the respective narrator’s voice, and finally, reliability of the narrators
within their unnatural space. It becomes apparent that the narrators are unreliable, not only in terms of controlling the information the reader is allowed access to within the narrative but also because of spatiotemporal ambiguity within the narratives.
Skemman, 2015
Wizards and magic have throughout history played a significant role within literature. While it i... more Wizards and magic have throughout history played a significant role within literature. While it is obvious that wizards can produce fantastic feats of power, their primary function is not always to conjure magic. The defining characteristic of wizards is displayed through the use of intellectual gifts in order to achieve their goals. This thesis investigates
such differences of intellect found between two wizards of modern literature, Gandalf from Tolkien‘s The Lord of the Rings and Harry Dresden from Butcher‘s The Dresden Files.
Using information found in Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales as well as relevant passages from Butcher’s novels, this thesis provides explanations regarding the two wizards’ respective origin in order to establish how they came by their magical abilities, and moreover, investigates whether or not they can be considered fully, or at all, human.
It further explores the respective worlds in which the two wizards reside and will show that there is a significant difference in how morality is presented within their storylines. It posits that Middle-earth does not portray the prevalent moral ambiguity that is present within the Dresdenverse.
Finally, it addresses a popular culture trope known as “manpain” and establishes its relevance to the two wizards, using the pertinent characteristics of each wizard in order to analyze whether or not the characters can be said to be manpained.