The Narrative Paradoxes in Ellen Kushner's Thomas the Rhymer

エレン・カシュナー『吟遊詩人トーマス』における語りのパラドックス

The Narrative Paradoxes in Ellen Kushner's Thomas the Rhymer

Creators Takamoto Takako

In the past few decades, the similarities between postmodern novels and fantasy novels have been attracting considerable critical attention. Lance Olsen, who argues that deconstruction is at work in both, has gone on to propose the term “postmodern fantasy.” The question that arises then is whether all fantasy novels that are characterized by postmodern narrative strategies can be categorized as postmodern novels. With the aim of shedding light on this question, I have taken up Ellen Kushner's historical fantasy novel Thomas the Rhymer (1990) for a case study and have analyzed its plot and narrative. This novel employs postmodern narrative strategies, such as intertextuality, a complex Chinese-box narrative structure, and metafiction. Its metafictionality, the most important feature of postmodern fiction, is evident from the fact that the worldviews presented at the plot level go against those presented at the narrative level. For instance, Gavin, the narrator of Part 1, criticizes the protagonist Thomas's style of sprinkling facts with fiction； at the same time, Gavinʼs narration itself plainly tends to blur the boundaries between facts and fiction. In a similar vein, the plot of Part 2 presents an ontological assumption that truth devoid of language can and does exist, whereas in terms of metafiction, the reader is given to understand that the fairy world is an allegory of a literary text, and hence that “reality” is nothing other than a construct of language. Unwittingly or not, the author fails to reconcile these contradictions within the text, and stays at the plot level throughout, as if to imply that Thomasʼs growth into “True Thomas,” a clairvoyant who cannot tell a lie, conveniently settles the whole question. Consequently, despite its postmodern strategies, Thomas the Rhymer falls short of being a postmodern novel. Rather, these strategies engender the impression of artificiality, only to weaken the force of fantasy.

[ISSN]0370-9361