Facets of Eleanor

Abstract

‘Facets of Eleanor’ belongs to an increasingly popular and prevalent sub-genre of fantasy, the New Weird (or New Fabulist), that blurs the lines between the fantastic, genre fantasy, mythology, fairy tale, science fiction, and horror. Epitomised by the work of Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, and Jeff VanderMeer (among others), it ‘demonstrate[s] the contemporary urge to pluralize our critical perspectives, questioning the possibilities of an objective vision and a universal language’ (Klapcsik 2009: 193), geared towards destabilising hegemonic ideological and narrative practices.Stemming from research exploring fantasy’s progressive potential, this creative practice encapsulates the desire to defamilarise the familiar through perspectival shifts and a liminal hesitation consistent with the fantastic element underpinning fairy tale. Fundamentally, it addresses Mieville’s hypothesis that Weird Fiction’s ‘focus is on awe, and its undermining of the quotidian’ (2009: 510) within an Australian context. Combining fiction and criticism, ‘Facets of Eleanor’ emphasises this theoretical focus, suggesting that its scope reaches past reality and into the narratives that mediate its perception. ‘Facets of Eleanor’ not only opens up a space to conceptualise a modern, Australian ‘flavoured’ fairy tale, but does so while foregrounding the historical, social, and discursive forces embedded in the form. Significantly, it sits within the author’s academic and creative oeuvre, acting as both a conduit and foil between the disciplines, at once filling gaps and poking holes.