Gods and Magic in Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief
- Megan Whalen Turner’s series The Queen’s Thief (1996 – 2020) centres on the political intrigues in a group of countries which are at once very like – but also very unlike – Bronze Age and archaic Greece threatened by a powerful Persian Empire. The first book in the series, The Thief (1996), begins as a political adventure haunted by stories of the gods. When those gods directly influence the action, the narrative changes from present political intrigue to a fantasy from the distant past. The mythology in The Thief reflects, imitates and distorts archaic Greek creation myths – stories about how the earth and sky were formed, the divine pantheon and heroes. I examine the presentation of this divine pantheon against the narratives about the gods in Hesiod, the Homeric hymns and Homer’s epics. I evaluate how the supernatural element interacts with the largely political narrative of The Thief. In so doing, I explore how the text blends a ‘classical supernatural’ with a world that is like – but in many ways very unlike – Bronze Age andMegan Whalen Turner’s series The Queen’s Thief (1996 – 2020) centres on the political intrigues in a group of countries which are at once very like – but also very unlike – Bronze Age and archaic Greece threatened by a powerful Persian Empire. The first book in the series, The Thief (1996), begins as a political adventure haunted by stories of the gods. When those gods directly influence the action, the narrative changes from present political intrigue to a fantasy from the distant past. The mythology in The Thief reflects, imitates and distorts archaic Greek creation myths – stories about how the earth and sky were formed, the divine pantheon and heroes. I examine the presentation of this divine pantheon against the narratives about the gods in Hesiod, the Homeric hymns and Homer’s epics. I evaluate how the supernatural element interacts with the largely political narrative of The Thief. In so doing, I explore how the text blends a ‘classical supernatural’ with a world that is like – but in many ways very unlike – Bronze Age and archaic Greece.…
Verfasserangaben: | Frances Foster |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.242 |
ISSN: | 2364-7612 |
Titel des übergeordneten Werks (Englisch): | thersites 17 |
Herausgeber*in(nen): | Amanda Potter, Hunter H. Gardner |
Publikationstyp: | Wissenschaftlicher Artikel |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Datum der Erstveröffentlichung: | 10.11.2023 |
Erscheinungsjahr: | 2023 |
Veröffentlichende Institution: | Universität Potsdam |
Datum der Freischaltung: | 14.12.2023 |
Freies Schlagwort / Tag: | Fantasy; Greek gods; Magic; Mythology; Young Adult literature |
Band: | 2023 |
Ausgabe: | 17 |
Seitenanzahl: | 23 |
Erste Seite: | 32 |
Letzte Seite: | 54 |
Quelle: | thersites Vol. 17 (2023): Classics and the Supernatural (eds. A. Potter & Hunter Gardner) |
Organisationseinheiten: | Philosophische Fakultät / Historisches Institut |
DDC-Klassifikation: | 9 Geschichte und Geografie / 90 Geschichte / 900 Geschichte und Geografie |
Peer Review: | Referiert |
Publikationsweg: | Open Access / Gold Open-Access |
Sammlung(en): | Universität Potsdam / Zeitschriften / thersites, ISSN 2364-7612 / thersites Vol. 17 |
Lizenz (Deutsch): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |
Externe Anmerkung: | The original publication is available at https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.242 |