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MagicCon 7 | Vortrag | Frauen und Magie in Fantasy
All witches or what? From Tolkien to C.S. Lewis to Philip Pullman etc.: Magical abilities in women have always conjured up both desires and fears in the human imagination. To control magic is to possess power, and fantasy writers deal differently with female characters who possess magical powers. In epic fantasy, their magical powers often play a key role in the battle of ‘good versus evil’.
Whether they call themselves “witches” or are called so by those around them: They are all subject to prejudices, and quite a few of them are familiar to us from the real-life history of witch hunts.
Meanwhile, magic is used as a stylistic device for female empowerment. As well as being able to use their magical powers for the ‘greater good’, sorceresses and witches use magic to empower themselves and others. This lecture shows (without claiming to be exhaustive) the spectrum of magical women in fantasy.
Lecturer: Isabel Busch
Duration: 60 min - The Lecture will be held in: germanIsabel Busch, M. A. is an English scholar, comparative literature specialist and historian. She studied in Bonn and Cork (Ireland) and is doing her doctorate in English studies on gender concepts in modern English fantasy novels. She has been working for the Haus der FrauenGeschichte in Bonn since 2013.
She has given lectures at conferences of the German Tolkien Society, MagicCon and for adult education centers on various topics, e.g. on female rebels in history and pop culture or gender in J.R.R. Tolkien. In addition to fantasy, she is passionate about history and likes to combine both passions in her lectures and publications. She also loves (historical) dancing.
