The following is an update of an essay I submitted to a class on Michael Ondaatje taught by Prof. Robert Lecker at McGill. The English Patient, especially after it was transformed into a movie, ignited a controversy about historical representation. Was it ethical to rewrite the death of marginal desert explorer László Almásy by having …
Continue reading The Almásy Controversy: History, Fantasy, and The English Patient
Embedding myself in the novels and poetry of Michael Ondaatje this semester in an MA seminar taught by Prof. Robert Lecker, I could not help but notice the similarity between the thematic/artistic concerns of the author of The English Patient and Guy Gavriel Kay. Both are great writers and both are Canadian. Upon first glance, …
Continue reading 6 Similarities between Guy Gavriel Kay and Michael Ondaatje
Alex Fratarcangeli, the protagonist of Nino Ricci's The Origin of Species, works on a Ph.D. proposal that could change literary academics: he chooses to analyze literary texts in the light of Darwinism. As its title suggests, the novel is about Alex's relationship to the life of Darwin and his seminal The Origin of Species. On …
Continue reading Fantasy, Narrative, and The Origin of Species by Nino Ricci
When Guy Gavriel Kay wrote his byzantine historical fantasy Sailing to Sarantium, he was stealing a title from a famous poem by William Butler Yeats: “Sailing to Byzantium.” After reading the novel last June, I took a close look at Yeats' poem to search for the items that might be said to have inspired Kay's …
Continue reading How did Yeats inspire Sailing to Sarantium?
My hardcover of River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay We first see Ren Daiyan, the heroic protagonist of Kay's newest novel, as an angst-ridden adolescent in a grove, wielding a bamboo sword to channel his anger. Living in a time of famine, and of war against the barbarian Kislik tribe, he is deeply aware …
Today, I make a special announcement: my Honours thesis "Fantasies of History: Guy Gavriel Kay's Synthesis of the Historical Fantasy Novel" has been added to Kay's official website at brightweavings.com. This thesis is the fruit of over two years of thought, and one year of hard research, writing, and re-writing. It represents the summit of …
Continue reading Special Post: Honours thesis added to brightweavings.com
The Build-Up to my Honours Thesis I was in my second year at McGill University, struggling to find a mentor for my Honours thesis in English literature. I'm in an advanced program, and I needed it to graduate and to develop my own critical voice. Oh, the ambition! My mission was to write on fantasy …
Continue reading History as Fantasy: My Honours Thesis on Guy Gavriel Kay Summarized
On the cover of my Penguin edition of Guy Gavriel Kay's novel Under Heaven is a little circular stamp that reveals that it made the Globe and Mail's top 100 books. It must be understood that these books do NOT just include fantasy literature! This book has proven a better read in the eyes of …
Continue reading Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay: Blending Fantasy and History
Matthew Rettino 