Institute of Advanced Studies

Heil Aragorn! The Fuhrer-ideology in contemporary fantasy literature

Abstract: A society's imagination is one of its most important features. Cultural historians have argued, for instance, that, long before Hitler came to power, the Third Reich had already been imagined into existence in Volkish fantasies. If a fantasy text is a real historical event, with real historical consequences, what is the cultural historian to make of our society's explosion of genre fantasy? Could it be argued that the publication of The Lord of the Rings was one of the great historical events of the twentieth century? What does 'Tolkienesque' fantasy tell us about our time's ideological imagination? More specifically, for the purposes of our lecture series, what ideals of political leadership permeate the fantasy texts that pour from the publishing houses? This lecture argued that the Fuhrer-ideal is alive and well and living in Middle-earth.

Biographical note: Associate Professor Robert Stuarthas taught at UWA since 1975, with his teaching now focused on three units: The Rise and Fall of European Fascism, Intellect and Ideology: European Intellectuals 1890-1945, and History in Fantasy / Fantasy in History. For 30 years he has researched the history of Marxist ideology, publishing a number of articles and two monographs: Marxism at Work: Ideology, Class and French Socialism during the Third Republic and Marxism and National Identity: Socialism, Nationalism and National Socialism during the French Fin de Sicle. His current project is a book on the ideological implications of contemporary Fantasy literature.

The lecture was hosted and sponsored by the Institute of Advanced Studies at UWA and formed part of the Dictators lecture series.

- 3 October 2007