High vs. Low Fantasy Using Cambell's
Monomyth
by Sophie Legan
To identify the difference between high
and low fantasy, I will use two texts – “Neverwhere” (a low fantasy novel by
Neil Gaiman) and “Til We Have Faces” (a high fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis). In
the literary world it is understood that high fantasy creates a whole new
magical world to explore while low fantasy incorporates elements of fantasy
into a world we are already familiar with. Campbell's monomyth cycle is useful
in trying to categorize fantasy novels into high or low fantasy because you can
easily identify the low fantasy through looking at the stages. Low fantasy
plays out the monomyth cycle much more literally than high fantasy.
Here is Cambell's Monomyth for your
reference:
The very first stage, Call to
Adventure, occurs when the reader is first introduced to a world foreign to
him. This stage clearly demonstrates the difference between high and low
fantasy because of their different standards of normalcy. The “normal” is
harder to recognize in high fantasy because we are not familiar with that
world. In “Til We Have Faces” the call to adventure is when Orual's sister is
accused of being the “accursed one” on page 55. This is the moment that changes
her world, but it's harder to recognize, because her world is so different from
ours. The people believe in the Gods and magic and have a monarchy, unlike us.
In “Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman, Richard's call to adventure occurs when he has
the choice to help Door, who appeared lying on the street bleeding beneath him
on page 24 and says, “ 'Not a hospital, please. They'll find me...'” Since his world is identical to ours, we can identify
the call to adventure easily. It's obviously a monumental decision that starts
off his adventure because it changes his whole world.
The Crossing First Threshold stage is
the point at which the character leaves his known world to a world of unknown
rules and limits. We can more easily determine the first threshold in low
fantasy because the character literally leaves his world behind, unlike in high
fantasy. On page 57 of “Neverwhere” Richard begins to be ignored by everyone.
He has fallen through the cracks of his world (London Above) into London Below,
“The taxi slid gently past him, ignoring him completely.” Richard is all but
invisible, which is how we can identify that he is no longer in his normal
world. In “Til We Have Faces” her world changes on page 101 when she sees
Psyche alive and well after being left for the beast to devour. She is
astounded and can no longer follow her usual pattern of logic: she no longer
knows the rules and limits of her world. This change is much more subtle to the
reader than being ignored by everyone (in the case of Richard in “Neverwhere”).
My last example will be of the
temptation phase. In low fantasy the temptation is more obvious to us because
it comes from an external source. In high fantasy the temptation often comes
from within and is therefore less easy to recognize. In “Til We Have Faces”
Orual is tempted from within to give up her quest to save Psyche on page 183
because of how emotionally draining saving her is, and she actually does give
up for a very long period of her life. C.S. Lewis writes, “...put everything in
it as it had been before our sorrows began... I did not choose that any part of
her should remain.” And Orual now puts Psyche out of her mind until she is old.
In low fantasy, Richard is tempted on page 292 by a woman named Lamia to give
her some of his warmth, and he is tempted to because she is so beautiful. By
giving her his warmth he would give her his life, and therefore be unable to
finish his quest to help Door and then return to London Above. It's easy to
recognize the temptation when we read, “ '...Can I have some?' Anything she
wanted. Anything...”
Most of the stages are similar in that
the low fantasy texts identify with each stage literally, but it would be
monotonous to go through them all. Both kinds of fantasy follow the cycle, but
if one is looking to decide if a text is high fantasy or low fantasy, these two
novels help prove that if the text follows the monomyth cycle literally, it is
most likely low fantasy.
I think your assessment of the literal vs. figurative treatment of the monomyth is largely accurate, at least in the case of these two example texts. It may be hard to say definitively that all other low or high fantasy texts have a similarly figurative or literal approach to the cycle, but you've made your case for that logic here, in terms of these texts, thoughtfully and succinctly. I do wish you had used the blog forum as a chance to have a little more fun with your prose, though, Sophie!
ReplyDelete