Online Midsummer Seminar 2023
Online Midsummer Seminar 2023
Fantasy Goes to Hell: Depictions of Hell in Modern Fantasy Texts
August 5-6, 2023
Via Zoom and Discord
MYTHCON ONLINE MIDSUMMER SEMINAR SPECIAL TRACK
Fantasy Goes to Hell: Depictions of Hell in Modern Fantasy Texts
Co-chairs: Janet Brennan Croft and Erin Giannini
Hell in modern fantasy is usually a far cry from traditional depictions in major world religions — the dry and dusty hells of ancient
Mesopotamia and the Classical world, the ambiguous Hel of the Norse, the fiery pit and everlasting torment of medieval Christianity and Islam,
the purgatorial hells of reincarnative religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. How do creators of fantasy imagine Hell differently?
And more importantly, why? What do these depictions have to tell us about what is hellish in our modern world?
This special track will run in parallel with the usual more general Mythcon tracks devoted to other
topics in Mythopoeic Fantasy. The 2023 Online Midsummer Seminar will also include the presentation of
the annual Mythopoeic Society Awards and other programming.
In addition to hosting this Online Midsummer Seminar, the co-chairs will be co-editing a special issue of Mythlore, in which they intend
to present selected papers from the special track of this seminar.
Program
The program for the Mythopoeic Society 2023 OMS features a wide variety of subjects and presenters. Here's a mere sample:
- Animated Dancing to Hell and Back: Disney’s Fantasia
- C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair: Descent, Destiny, and Discipleship in the Deep Realm and Beyond
- The Good, the Bad, and the Mind-Body Problem: Dualistic Punishment and Torture in The Good Place
- Hell as Colonizing Force: Postcolonialism in World of Warcraft’s the Maw
- Hellish Landscapes in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium
- Orpheus, the Harrowing of Hell, and Mary Magdalene in the tale of Beren and Lúthien
- Political Demons: Society as Hell in Hellblazer and Sandman
- Reforming Xibalba in Gods of Jade and Shadow
- Timeless Moments: Russell Kirk, Charles Williams, and Stephen King on the Afterlife
- Panel: The Rings of Power Season 1: Underworlds, Overworlds, and Ocean Worlds
Each program item has a 50-minute slot, but individual papers should be shorter, to allow time for questions and discussions.
The complete
Program Book, including abstracts for papers & panels,
and presenter bios, is available now, although this link may be updated as last-minute changes come in.
A full spreadsheet of the Program Schedule is avaliable as well.
Fantasy Goes to Hell: Depictions of Hell in Modern Fantasy Texts
Via Zoom and Discord
MYTHCON ONLINE MIDSUMMER SEMINAR SPECIAL TRACK
Fantasy Goes to Hell: Depictions of Hell in Modern Fantasy Texts
Co-chairs: Janet Brennan Croft and Erin GianniniHell in modern fantasy is usually a far cry from traditional depictions in major world religions — the dry and dusty hells of ancient Mesopotamia and the Classical world, the ambiguous Hel of the Norse, the fiery pit and everlasting torment of medieval Christianity and Islam, the purgatorial hells of reincarnative religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. How do creators of fantasy imagine Hell differently? And more importantly, why? What do these depictions have to tell us about what is hellish in our modern world?
This special track will run in parallel with the usual more general Mythcon tracks devoted to other topics in Mythopoeic Fantasy. The 2023 Online Midsummer Seminar will also include the presentation of the annual Mythopoeic Society Awards and other programming.
In addition to hosting this Online Midsummer Seminar, the co-chairs will be co-editing a special issue of Mythlore, in which they intend to present selected papers from the special track of this seminar.
Program
The program for the Mythopoeic Society 2023 OMS features a wide variety of subjects and presenters. Here's a mere sample:
- Animated Dancing to Hell and Back: Disney’s Fantasia
- C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair: Descent, Destiny, and Discipleship in the Deep Realm and Beyond
- The Good, the Bad, and the Mind-Body Problem: Dualistic Punishment and Torture in The Good Place
- Hell as Colonizing Force: Postcolonialism in World of Warcraft’s the Maw
- Hellish Landscapes in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium
- Orpheus, the Harrowing of Hell, and Mary Magdalene in the tale of Beren and Lúthien
- Political Demons: Society as Hell in Hellblazer and Sandman
- Reforming Xibalba in Gods of Jade and Shadow
- Timeless Moments: Russell Kirk, Charles Williams, and Stephen King on the Afterlife
- Panel: The Rings of Power Season 1: Underworlds, Overworlds, and Ocean Worlds
Each program item has a 50-minute slot, but individual papers should be shorter, to allow time for questions and discussions. The complete Program Book, including abstracts for papers & panels, and presenter bios, is available now, although this link may be updated as last-minute changes come in.
A full spreadsheet of the Program Schedule is avaliable as well.