University of Glasgow opens research center focused on fantasy

Think you know Earthsea from Narnia from MIddle-earth from Westeros? Take your love of fantasy to the next level and study it at the University of Glasgow.

Think you know your Earthsea from your Narnia? Why not take your love of fantasy to the next level and study it at a university level? You’ll be diving in at the deep end and looking at fantasy culture from all corners of the world, focusing on how its influence different cultural mediums. Do you think you have what it takes?

A new fantasy research center called “Fantasy and the Fantastic” has been created at the University of Glasgow, which previously launched the only masters in the world in Fantasy Literature. If you’re going to learn the ways of fantasy, you’ll be learning from the best, at one of the oldest universities in Scotland!

Dr. Dimitra Fimi, a senior lecturer and leader in the fantasy research center, gave Glasgow Times the rundown of what exactly it will entail. “It will look at different expressions of the fantastic – literature, art, illustration, games & gaming as well as film & TV,” she said. “And of course Glasgow is the perfect location for students in this field. We are surrounded by expressions of fantasy and the fantastic in the university’s very architecture.”

Another senior lecturer, Dr. Rob Maslen, explained why a center like this is needed today. “Fantasy can be found everywhere in twenty-first-century global culture, in films, TV shows, plays, games, comics, the visual arts, and literature from picture books for the very young to multi-volume epics and one-off experimental forms,” he said. “I can’t wait to discover where its projects will lead us.”

And if you still can’t see the importance of studying fantasy, allow acclaimed fantasy writer Ellen Kushner (Swordspoint) to change your mind:

"As a fantasy writer, I stand on the shoulders of storytellers stretching back through time, everything from the post-war children’s book authors I grew up reading, to the folk telling tales by the fire they’d heard from their grandmothers in their turn. An entire Centre making sure this knowledge is valued, perpetuated, and will exist to inform future generations fills me with joy."

If the huge scope of fantasy is too broad for you, maybe you should turn your attention towards Harvard University, which in 2017 launched a course focusing on Game of Thrones! That actually happened. But before you get too excited, be aware that it’s not just one huge Game of Thrones quiz; you have to study everything from the cultural impact to the medieval inspiration behind the series. Hence the course name, The Real Game of Thrones: From Modern Myths to Medieval Models.

Professor Sean Gilsdorf told TIME Magazine that students study “a set of archetypal characters at the heart of Game of Thrones — the king, the good wife, the second son, the adventurer, and so on — with distinct analogues in medieval history, literature, religion, and legend.”

Still down to try your hand at studying fantasy? Well, the opportunities are out there.

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