A brief introduction to the British fantasy writer, Alan Garner. This short lecture offers an overview of the fantasy writer Alan Garner's early fiction, from 'The Weirdstone of Brisingamen' to 'Red Shift', and traces several of Garner's mythological sources and the central themes of his work.

 

Felix Taylor is a DPhil candidate in English at St Hugh's College. His thesis explores the influence of Welsh mythology and folklore in twentieth-century British fiction.

A brief introduction to the British fantasy writer, Alan Garner. This short lecture offers an overview of the fantasy writer Alan Garner's early fiction, from 'The Weirdstone of Brisingamen' to 'Red Shift', and traces several of Garner's mythological sources and the central themes of his work. Felix Taylor is a DPhil candidate in English at St Hugh's College. His thesis explores the influence of Welsh mythology and folklore in twentieth-century British fiction.

Alan Garner

Fantasy Literature has emerged as one of the most important genres over the past few decades and now enjoys extraordinary levels of popularity. The impact of Tolkien’s Middle-earth works and the serialisation of George Martin’s ‘Game of Thrones’ books has moved these and their contemporaries into mainstream culture. As the popularity grows so does interest in the roots of fantasy, the main writers and themes, and how to approach these texts.

                Oxford is a natural home to fantasy literature with those who worked or studied here having written so many famous and influential texts (e.g. Lewis Carroll (C. L. Dodgson), C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Susan Cooper, Diana Wynne Jones, Alan Garner, and Philip Pullman to name but a few) – leading to the notion of an ‘Oxford School of Fantasy’. These lectures, short talks, and interviews seek to take listeners into these works and these writers and beyond. 

All material released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ .

[Artwork by Minjie Su.]

Education

Fantasy Literature has emerged as one of the most important genres over the past few decades and now enjoys extraordinary levels of popularity. The impact of Tolkien’s Middle-earth works and the serialisation of George Martin’s ‘Game of Thrones’ books has moved these and their contemporaries into mainstream culture. As the popularity grows so does interest in the roots of fantasy, the main writers and themes, and how to approach these texts. Oxford is a natural home to fantasy literature with those who worked or studied here having written so many famous and influential texts (e.g. Lewis Carroll (C. L. Dodgson), C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Susan Cooper, Diana Wynne Jones, Alan Garner, and Philip Pullman to name but a few) – leading to the notion of an ‘Oxford School of Fantasy’. These lectures, short talks, and interviews seek to take listeners into these works and these writers and beyond. All material released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ . [Artwork by Minjie Su.]

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Alan Garner

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