The half-made man (novel) and 'His chalice, her blade': reimagining our socio-historic and socio-cultural selves in contemporary fantasy writing (3 critical essays)

Abstract

This practice-based thesis centres on fiction writing in the form of a fantasy novel, in tandem with a literary critical component that both reflects on the creative work and provides a largely independent and comprehensive study of contemporary fantasy writing. The first section of the thesis is a book-length work in the fantasy genre entitled The Half-Made Man, while the second section is a collection of three reflexive analytical essays entitled ‘His Chalice, Her Blade: Reimagining Our Socio-Historic and Socio-Cultural Selves in Contemporary Fantasy Writing’.

The Half-Made Man is a queer, heroic epic fantasy novel, which follows adverse set of characters (both protagonists and antagonists) and constructs a complex narrative on a grand scale, with interwoven plots and strands of plots, and an extensive recasting of mythopoetic themes and figures, including the fairy mistress and the romantic hero. By placing queer (male) characters into traditionally heteronormative and heterocentric narratives, such as those typical of heroic epic fantasy, the novel challenges the association between heroism and heterosexual masculinity (which has long dominated the genre), and shows that queer characters are capable of taking centre stage in stories outside the romantic fantasy subgenre.

The three research essays each focus on an independent but related topic of inquiry. Essay One explores the ways in which the genre is evolving as contemporary writers are adapting it for diverse and multicultural audiences. It further investigates the prevalence of women writers in the emerging branch of (gay-men-centric) queer fantasy and the apparent reluctance of male writers to engage with gay male characters. Essay Two addresses the repurposing of the story patterns centered on the fairy-mistress characters of Mélusine and Morgan le Fay in contemporary fantasy works and examines the importance of preserving the two supernatural women’s agency to subvert traditional norms and structures of power, such as the dominance of one gender over the other in place of a partnership model of social organisation. Essay Three considers how the Mélusinian and Morganian story patterns are embedded in The Half-Made Man and reimagined through postcolonial and queer lenses. It further analyses the impact of exclusionism in popular culture (including fantasy fiction) on the construction of the metaphorical cages in which we all learn to trap ourselves.

Ultimately, the novel and critical component share a common theme of challenging the exclusionist traditions in the genre. Together they demonstrate the potential contained in popular fantasy to empower readers to rethink our historico-culturally defined selves and thus reimagine our worlds for the better.

Thesis embargoed until 30 Sep0tember 2026

Date of Award	Sept 2024
Original language	English
Sponsors	Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Stephen Butler (Supervisor) & Frank Sewell (Supervisor)