ABSTRACT
Mendlesohnian immersion is where gritty fantasy gets much of its grit. “Gritty fantasy” is the term Helen Young applies to a recognisable trend in twenty-first century fantasy towards the use of low-mimetic diction and plot elements as reactions to the “inauthentic evocations of history” (63) offered by the “high fantasy” of the twentieth century (Tolkien’s legendarium being the inevitable exemplar). She cites Martin as a major contributor to the trend, which by some obvious metrics seems to be fair comment. Rather than “dealing with matters affecting the destiny of worlds” as high fantasy does (Clute 466), gritty fantasy tends to focus on interrogating the difficulties of living in them. The dirt and violence that are so often foci of Martin’s narrative discourse are clear examples of this in action. His greatest divorce from the destiny of worlds, however, is his approach to the expositional imperatives inherent in his chosen literary form. Fantasy worlds must be explained, and Martin explains much of his via a method that seems to deny the notion that the world could have a destiny. The rational interrogation required by immersive fantasy world-building creates a tangled mass of contingencies, not any essential meaning. The world is a subject of study, a network of elements and connections to be demystified; essential meanings and identities are repeatedly frustrated. Those who speak in absolutes are fools. Note how Joffrey’s “screamed” insistence that Eddard Stark is lying when he denies the boy’s place on the Iron Throne (Game 509–510) includes no refutation of the logical case Eddard has presented for his endorsement of Stannis. Joffrey’s illusion that a mere contradiction of Eddard’s analysis suffices to dismiss Stannis’s claim is as silly as Eddard’s assumption that the gold cloaks will necessarily back the rightful king. Martin’s method of fantasy world-building works by stripping away illusion, interrogating ideology and exploding assumption. A puppy, it is said, is never quite as endearing after its owner takes it apart to see how it works.
