Fantasy illustration as an expression of postmodern 'primitivism' : the green man and the forest

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study demonstrates that Fantasy in general, and the Green Man in particular, is apostmodern manifestation of a long tradition of modernity critique.The first chapter focuses on outlining the history of 'primitivist' thought in the West,while Chapter Two discusses the implications of Fantasy as postmodern 'primitivism',with a brief discussion of examples. Chapter Three provides an in-depth look at the GreenMan as an example of Fantasy as postmodern 'primitivism'. The fmal chapter furtherexplores the invented tradition of the Green Man within the context of New Agespirituality and religion.The study aims to demonstrate that, like the Romantic counterculture that preceded it,Fantasy is a revolt against increased secularisation, industrialisation and nihilism. Thediscussion argues that in postmodernism the Wilderness (in the form of the forest) isembraced through the iconography of the Green Man.The Green Man is a pre-Christian symbol found carved in wood and stone, in temples andchurches and on graves throughout Europe, but his origins and original meaning areunknown, and remain a controversial topic. The figure of the Green Man mostcommonly appears in Fantasy art as a humanoid male head disgorging leaves from itsmouth; a composite of man and foliage. In contemporary Fantasy the Green Man hascome to signify what Terri Windling terms the Mythic Forest and... mythic rebirthand regeneration ... .The study concludes that the prevalence and pervasiveness of Green Man and forestimagery in Fantasy is indicative of a wider trend in modernised society - that of nostalgiafor a mythic and imagined past, and of dissatisfaction with modernity.The discussion demonstrates that postmodern 'primitivism' continues certainModernist characteristics and brings them to their logical/extreme conclusion. Thuspostmodemism takes modem 'primitivism' to the extremes of escapism andconsumerism. Hence, like most counter discourses of modernity, Fantasy remainscaught in the very paradigm it sets out to critique.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University