This is part of our series of interviews with some of the speakers at the 2017 Shanghai International Literary Festival
Carolyne Larrington is a Professor of Medieval European Literature at the University of Oxford. Like all right-thinking human beings, she is also a huge fan of Game of Thrones. The result is Winter Is Coming: The Medieval World of Game of Thrones, in which Larrington explores how George R R Martin constructed his expansive universe out of Middle Ages history and myth. We asked her to pick out five of her favorite Medieval Earth-Westeros and Essos parallels, to give us a taste of what to expect at her talk.
The Three-Eyed Raven recalls the god Odin, and his mystical link with
ravens and wolves…
How George R R Martin uses the myths of Viking and medieval Scandinavia to build his icy World beyond the Wall, and the terrors – living and undead – that walk there. If Ragnarök – the end of the world, collapsing in ice and fire – is coming, can we learn from Old Norse how it might be circumvented? Are we shaping up for a dragons versus White Walkers showdown?
The Sparrows, the Faith and the medieval Church – religious reform and revolution…
When the corruption of the medieval Church called forth reform movements, radicals and fanatics shook up the institutions of medieval Europe. Burnings, charges of heresy and torture would follow – a cure perhaps worse than the ills the reformers promised to end. Do the Sparrows have a future after the explosion at the Great Sept?
The Dothraki and the Mongols – horselords of the eastern steppes…
The Dothraki’s proud culture scorns trade (except in human trafficking), and instead extorts payments to leave the Free Cities in peace. Like the Great Khan’s capital at Karakorum, Vaes Dothrak is the sacred center of the Dothraki world, where leaders are chosen, and destinies carved out. The Mongols ruled over the largest land empire the world has ever seen, from the Pacific to the Danube – can the Dothraki fight successfully on the other side of the Narrow Sea?
The Doom of Valyria and the legend of Atlantis…
Essos is haunted by the cataclysmic Doom of Valyria, only 300 years in the past. Was it precipitated by human greed and folly, an ecological crisis caused by over-exploitation of the Known World’s natural resources? Or were the gods furious with the Valyrians’ arrogance, vowing to destroy those that they had once raised up, just as Atlantis, Sodom and Gomorrah perished for their sins? Or – like the destruction of Pompeii – was the Doom simply a geological accident?
Iron-Born and Vikings – reaving, raiding, roving and raping as a way of life…
Yara has promised Daenerys that – if she wins the Seastone Chair and rule of the IronBorn, her people will abandon their traditional way of life and live in peace with their neighbors. Can the Iron-Born, like the Vikings before them, make the transition to trade and agriculture – led by a House whose words are ‘We Do Not Sow’?
Mar 18, noon, RMB85 (RMB40 for students). See listing for Glam. Tickets available at their website.The Shanghai International Literary Festival returns to M on the Bund from March 10-22, bringing together authors of all stripes. View the full schedule here. See more interviews with 2017 Shanghai Lit Festival authors here.
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