English 102: Writing About Myth and Fantasy

Finding academic/peer-reviewed content on certain texts and films can be difficult, and the process requires trial and error. Not every story, poem, film, book, TV show, etc. has been written about in an academic setting, and even if it has, there may not be much material. For example, lots of scholarship addresses Agatha Christie, but novels of hers including A Murder is Announced make few appearances in academic journals. 

To avoid frustration, tweak your focus.

• Search for scholarship about the work's creator and their other works.
  • Even if an article on an Agatha Christie novel or story does not explicitly address A Murder is Announced, often, useful information can be found in the article for a research project on this novel. 
• Search for scholarship addressing themes in the genre of the work you're studying.
  • Instead of just looking at the work, look at its context within its genre. If researching Jaws, I may also look into tropes of summer blockbuster films in general instead of only using articles which mention Jaws.
• Search for scholarship addressing similar works.
  • If I can't find much on Patricia Wentworth, I might look into her contemporaries, including Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.

Gathering information from related sources, even if they're not directly discussing the film or text you're working with, can enrich your research and arguments. Please reach out to Professor Hammer with any research questions. 

Beowulf

• Price, Basil Arnould. “Sufficient Tragedy: Masculinity as Cruel Optimism in Beowulf.” English Studies, vol. 105, no. 5, 2024, pp. 681–702, https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2024.2393068.
  • UNK Library Catalog Link

• Hall, Catherine. “‘The Evil Side of Heroic Life’: Monsters and Heroes in Beowulf and The Hobbit.” Mythlore., vol. 41, no. 1, 2022.

  • UNK Library Catalog Link

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• Spearing, A. C., and A. C. Spearing. “Time and Temporality in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” The Chaucer Review., vol. 58, no. 3–4, 2023, pp. 336–47, https://doi.org/10.5325/chaucerrev.58.3-4.0336.

  • UNK Library Catalog Link

• Bovaird-Abbo, Kristin L. “Safe Behind Doors? Sleep Deprivation in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Arthuriana., vol. 32, no. 3, 2022.

  • UNK Library Catalog Link

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

• Hurd, Crystal. "Harry Potter and the Classical World: Greek and Roman Allusions in J.K. Rowling's Modern Epic." Mythlore, vol. 35, no. 129, 2016, pp. 182-.
  • UNK Library Catalog Link

• Mercedeh Makoui. “The Element of Fear in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” Teaching English Language (Online), vol. 1, no. Special Issue 1, 2007, pp. 109–18, https://doi.org/10.22132/tel.2006.113231.

  • UNK Library Catalog Link

The 13th Warrior

• Valdés-Miyares, J. Rubén. “Beowulf’s Monster Discourse Now: Grendel in Twenty-First-Century Film.” English Studies, vol. 102, no. 6, 2021, pp. 847–67, https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2021.1952678.

  • UNK Library Catalog Link

Lost Horizon

• Rawitsch, Elizabeth. “‘Sometimes He Calls It Utopia’: Lost Horizon and the Politics of Imperialism.” Frank Capra’s Eastern Horizons, I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited, 2014.

  • UNK Library Catalog Link

The Truman Show

• Lavoie, Dusty. “Escaping the Panopticon: Utopia, Hegemony, and Performance in Peter Weir’s The Truman Show.” Utopian Studies, vol. 22, no. 1, 2011, pp. 52–73, https://doi.org/10.1353/utp.2011.0033.

  • UNK Library Catalog Link