Sovremennye Issledovaniâ Socialʹnyh Problem (Oct 2022)
(DE)CONSTRUCTION OF THE HISTORICAL NARRATION OF MODERN AMERICAN MEDIEVALISM: THE “INVENTION” OF THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS OF WESTEROS
Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the article is to deconstruct the constructed “historical” narrative in contexts of the social, political and economic features of the feudalism of the world of the Seven Kingdoms, imagined in the imitated narration of the American writer George Martin, presented in his novels that make up the “A Song of Ice and Fire” cycle. The novelty of the article lies in the study of the features of the social and economic history of the imagining medieval world of the Seven Kingdoms. Methodology. Methodologically, the article is based on the principles of interdisciplinary historiography proposed in intellectual and cultural histories, as well as in the study of medievalism as a synthetic form of mass ideas about the Middle Ages in modern consumer society. Results. It is assumed that George Martin proposed a model for the development of medieval society. The political relations and institutions described by G. Martin have parallels with those social forms of organization that arose and developed in the Medieval West. Therefore, in contexts of social history, the society described by George Martin can be defined as feudal. Critically analyzing George Martin’s texts as sources and deconstructing the narratives that form them, the author presumes that in the Seven Kingdoms the processes of feudal revolution led to the formation of a system of relations of vassalage and suzerainty. George Martin’s texts are a source on the history of the institutions of royalty, describing both the history of regional dynasties and the features of their subordination and integration into the state established as a result of the conquest of Westeros by Aegon I. Conclusions. The article shows that 1) George Martin became constructor of a parallel version of the social and political histories of the Middle Ages and feudalism, 2) George Martin proposed an image of the Middle Ages, genetically ascending in the history of Medieval Europe, 3) the analyzed texts can be identified as a source on the social, economic and political history of the Seven Kingdoms.
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