Fantasy Literature: Further Thinking
These podcasts allow you to explore further some of the key themes, texts, and writers engaged in fantasy literature. Note there is a separate 'Fantasy Literature: An Introduction' if you want to hear a brief summary of the genre and have short talks around some of the writers, plus separate collections on 'Fantasy at Oxford' (the famous writers and collections that have been in contact with the City and the University), and one dedicated to J. R. R. Tolkien.
To begin with read this introductory essay on the topic.
We have also created two teaching packs to support this:
- 'His Dark Materials' Years 9 and up (slideset and teaching guide)
- 'The Lord of the Rings' Years 9 and up (slideset and teaching guide).
- 'The Silmarillion' Years 10 and up (slideset and teaching guide)
If you enjoy these podcasts on 'Fantasy Literature' we would love to hear your feedback. Please complete a short survey at: https://oxford.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/oxford-fantasy-podcasts.
| # | Title | Description | Contributor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Old Norse in the New World: The Mythology and Politics of Immigration and Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods' | A talk by Professor Heather O'Donoghue, Lincoln College, Oxford on Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods'… | Heather O'Donoghue |
| 12 | Discworld and the Modern University | A short talk introducing Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels and how they reflect the modern… | Andrew Shamel |
| 13 | Daoxuan and Chinese Fantasy Literature | A short talk on Daoxuan and medieval Chinese fantasy by Nelson Landry, DPhil student at the… | Nelson Landry |
| 14 | What Tolkien learnt from Beowulf: Representations of Evil | Smaug the Golden, Sauron the Terrible, the Balrog of Moria... These are some of J. R. R. Tolkien's… | Rafael J. Pascual |
| 15 | Interview: Catherine Butler | An interview with Dr Catherine Butler (Cardiff University) by Will Brockbank (Oxford). Dr Butler… | Catherine Butler, Will Brockbank |
| 16 | Literary Allusion in Harry Potter | J.K. Rowling’s imagination is fired by the past. How do historical objects illuminate the real-… | Beatrice Groves, Victoria McGuinness |
| 17 | Wolves and Winter: Old Norse Myths and Children's Literature | Dr Carolyne Larrington, Supernumerary Fellow and Tutor in English, St John's College, gives a talk… | Carolyne Larrington |
| 18 | Oriental Tales and Their Influence | Prof. Warner and Prof. Ballaster begin their conversation with Antoine Galland's translation into… | Ros Ballaster, Marina Warner |
| 19 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | This lecture on A Midsummer Night's Dream uses modern and early modern understandings of dreams to… | Emma Smith |
| 20 | Oxford Literary Festival 2010 Pieces of Places Discussion The Weirdstone of Brisingamen | Alan Garner, Mark Edmonds, and Robert Powell take part in a discussion on the subject of pieces of… | Alan Garner, Mark Edmonds, Robert Powell |