Personnages féminins dans la fantasy épique du début du XXIe siècle : Inheritance de Christopher Paolini, La Quête d’Ewilan de Pierre Bottero et Cronache del Mondo Emerso de Licia Troisi : révolution ou évolution ?

Details

Supervisors

Sábado Novau, Marta

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres françaises et romanes, orientation générale, à finalité spécialisée: sciences et métiers du livre (édition, librairie, bibliothèque)

Abstract

enIn this thesis, we first survey the historical context of the epic fantasy genre among the other subgenres of fantasy. In so doing, we identify the various stages of the evolution of female character representations in this genre. In parallel, we point out the main aspects of women’s position during the corresponding periods. We study whether women’s representations in the literature match their condition within actual society. Second, we focus on three twenty first century fantasy works: Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, La Quête d’Ewilan by Pierre Bottero and Cronache del Mondo Emerso by Licia Troisi. We describe the structure and the society of each work’s imaginary world to identify the diegetic context. Then, we study each of the main female characters, their relationships with other characters, as well as their role in the plot. Although more often present, are female characters the equals of the male characters, or are they still captive of their status? How do the authors represent them compared to the male characters, notably through their physical descriptions and through their abilities? Are they still bound to male characters or do they acquire independence? By comparing the three works, we observe the evolution of the character treatment within the fantasy genre in three different countries (United States of America, France and Italy) around the same period.