Richard M. McGee, History
November 19, 12pm
Hoffman Room, Swan Hall

While history and fantasy are normally seen as opposites, that does not preclude some fantasy series from containing allegories for how historians do their work. The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss is one such example. In tandem with Rothfuss’ works, McGee’s talk will philosophize on traits of academic history that are often subject to critical analysis by trained historians, including historiography and methodology, the concept of “objectivity” in study and research, the struggles of memory and oral history, narrative revisionism, and the difference between public and professional history. McGee will analyze how the two books within Rothfuss’ incomplete trilogy — The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear — serve as commentaries on the field of history and provide examples for this point, especially through an analysis of dragon myths, an esoteric school of magic, a protagonist who happens to be a historian, and stories about demons that are forbidden from public knowledge. The goal of this presentation is to prove that history is the backdrop of all human existence and permeates contemporary cultural mythologies.