TRAVEL AND PATH IN ANDREW PETERSON’S “WINGFEATHER SAGA”

Abstract

The article examines the series of books by Andrew Peterson “The Wingfeather Saga” (2008–2014), written in the genre of epic fantasy and aimed at children. The theme of the journey referring to the hero’s evolution and spiritual growth is of special importance there (thus, the geography of the fictional world is well-developed, featured on the maps and correlated with the history). By choosing children as protagonists, the author introduces an additional specificity into hiswork: the characters’ age features and their gradual evolution are highlighted: they become braver and tougher, abandon childish egocentrism, accept their duties and responsibilities, and move to a new stage in their relations both with the people and the Maker. The author of the article notes that in addition to the loci traditionally depicted in books belonging to the epic fantasy genre (the castle of the main villain, dangerous mountains, magic forest, idyllic hometown), Peterson introduces a school into the narrative as a setting, which belongs to another literary tradition. The theme of growing-up and spiritual improvement, overcoming the temptations brings together the fantasy story, closer to both the Bildungsroman and the genre of allegory.
The research was carried out at A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences and was financially supported by the Russian Scientific Fund, grant no. 24-78-10093 "Poetics of space: cross-cultural connections between Russian and foreign fantastic literature", https:
//rscf.ru/en/project/24-78-10093/

Keywords: fantasy, children’s literature, hero’s progress, fictional world, Bildungsroman, allegory