PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION AND THE STUDY OF MODERN FANTASY LITERATURE
Weronika Łaszkiewicz
Katedra Neofilologii Uniwersytet w BiałymstokuAbstract
The aim of the following paper is to prove that the tools applied by phenomenology of religion
to the study of sacrum, i.e. various religious phenomena and manifestations appearing in our world,
can be successfully applied to the study of sacrum present in the secondary worlds of modern fantasy
fi ction. When applied, the phenomenological approach will contribute to a better understanding
of the imaginary world and of the spiritual dimension of the heroes’ adventures, and reveal the
author’s inspiration with particular religions/mythologies. The following paper, fi rst of all, provides
a brief summary of phenomenology of religion as a discipline; secondly, discusses this discipline’s
applicability to fantasy literature, and fi nally provides a sample study of a fantastic religion present
in Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry.
Keywords:
fantasy literature, phenomenology of religionReferences
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Westport: Greenwood Press.
Eliade, M. (1959). The Sacred and the Profane. The Nature of Religion. Trans. W.R. Trask. New
York: Harcourt, Brace and World.
Eliade, M. (1971). Patterns in Comparative Religion. Trans. R. Sheed. London: Sheed and Ward.
Kay, G.G. (2001). The Summer Tree. New York: Roc Trade.
Kay, G.G. (2001). The Wandering Fire. New York: Roc Trade.
Kay, G.G. (2001). The Darkest Road. New York: Roc Trade.
Leeuw, G. van der (1967). Religion in Essence and Manifestation. Vols. 1–2. Trans. J.E. Turner.
Gloucester: Peter Smith.
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Oxford University Press.
Łaba, J. (2010). Idee religijne w literaturze fantasy. Studium fenomenologiczne. Gdańsk: Gdański
Klub Fantastyki.
Łaszkiewicz, W. (2013). Finding God(s) in Fantasylands: Religious Ideas in Fantasy Literature.
Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies 1, p. 24–36.
Matson, G., and Roberts, J. (2010). Celtic Mythology A to Z. 2nd ed. New York: Chelsea House.
Otto, R. (1923). The Idea of the Holy. An Inquiry into the Non-rational Factor in the Idea of the
Divine and Its Relation to the Rational. Trans. J.W. Harvey. London: Oxford University Press.
Trocha, B. (2009). Degradacja mitu w literaturze fantasy. Zielona Góra: Ofi cyna Wydawnicza
Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego.
Łaszkiewicz, W. (2014). PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION AND THE STUDY OF MODERN FANTASY LITERATURE. Acta Neophilologica, 1(XVI), 179–189. Retrieved from https://czasopisma.uwm.edu.pl/index.php/an/article/view/816
Weronika Łaszkiewicz
Katedra Neofilologii Uniwersytet w Białymstoku
Katedra Neofilologii Uniwersytet w Białymstoku
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