Intertextual Medievalism in Fantasy Literature: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and G.R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire

Abstract

This thesis aims at studying the influence of medieval literature on modern and contemporary fantasy through the lense of discourse analysis. To this end, the study provides a comprehensive background on fantasy fiction, its development, and medievalist contexts. It outlines the importance of the discourse concept within the novel, specifically highlighting intertextuality and dialogism as essential tools to the overall objective of the research. Next, it focuses on analyzing medieval intertextuality in the fantasy genre by comparing and reexamining various themes, as well as investigating the extent to which writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries create fantasies set in medieval environments. Furthermore, it seeks to explore intertextual resemblances by analyzing archetypal patterns, specifically focusing on the Monomyth or the Hero's Journey, and also examining how fantasy literature manifests in the context of female representation. The influential epic fantasies The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and A Song of Ice and Fire by G.R.R. Martin’s have been adopted as the primary sources by virtue of their richness of medieval elements and global appeal.