Syndafloden - Vatten som liv, vapen och naturkatastrof i modern ungdomsfantasy
(2025) LIVR07 20251Master's Programme: Literature - Culture - Media
- Abstract
- This thesis analyses how the biblical motif of the deluge is portrayed in modern fantasy. I apply an ecocritical perspective on the deluge as a way to portray natural disasters and climate change. The intertextuality with the Bible and what that lends to the literary works is in focus for the analysis as well as what role the water has in the fictive material. Through the paper I discuss water as life, as a weapon and as a natural disaster. My conclusions are that the motif of the deluge is incorporated in many modern fictional works stretching over multiple formats and medium. The intertextuality with the Bible offers a frame of reference that many western readers have consciously and/or subconsciously, access to allowing the readers to... (More)
- This thesis analyses how the biblical motif of the deluge is portrayed in modern fantasy. I apply an ecocritical perspective on the deluge as a way to portray natural disasters and climate change. The intertextuality with the Bible and what that lends to the literary works is in focus for the analysis as well as what role the water has in the fictive material. Through the paper I discuss water as life, as a weapon and as a natural disaster. My conclusions are that the motif of the deluge is incorporated in many modern fictional works stretching over multiple formats and medium. The intertextuality with the Bible offers a frame of reference that many western readers have consciously and/or subconsciously, access to allowing the readers to easily connect the subtext to the Bible. The water is of utmost importance in especially the Ättlingarna trilogy and both that work and The Valley and the Flood personifies the flood on many occasions. There is a respect given to the water and its powerful forces in all three literary works. Attention is given to the weaponizing aspects of water either as a powerful destroyer and killer or the withholding of water as a political or torture weapon. The flood gives the coming climate catastrophe a time pressure akin to a ticking bomb and lends a feeling of urgency to the story. The flood motif works as a stepping stone into something more important or relevant for the fictional work to convey to its readers and a reassurance that whatever comes we have survived it once and therefore we may do it again. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9221286
- author
- Blohmé, Matilda LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- The Flood - Water as life, weapon and natural disaster in modern young adult fantasy
- course
- LIVR07 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- ecocriticism, fantasy, biblical themes, flood, natural disasters, young adult, water, literature as politics.
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9221286
- date added to LUP
- 2026-05-19 09:39:15
- date last changed
- 2026-05-19 09:39:15
@misc{9221286,
abstract = {{This thesis analyses how the biblical motif of the deluge is portrayed in modern fantasy. I apply an ecocritical perspective on the deluge as a way to portray natural disasters and climate change. The intertextuality with the Bible and what that lends to the literary works is in focus for the analysis as well as what role the water has in the fictive material. Through the paper I discuss water as life, as a weapon and as a natural disaster. My conclusions are that the motif of the deluge is incorporated in many modern fictional works stretching over multiple formats and medium. The intertextuality with the Bible offers a frame of reference that many western readers have consciously and/or subconsciously, access to allowing the readers to easily connect the subtext to the Bible. The water is of utmost importance in especially the Ättlingarna trilogy and both that work and The Valley and the Flood personifies the flood on many occasions. There is a respect given to the water and its powerful forces in all three literary works. Attention is given to the weaponizing aspects of water either as a powerful destroyer and killer or the withholding of water as a political or torture weapon. The flood gives the coming climate catastrophe a time pressure akin to a ticking bomb and lends a feeling of urgency to the story. The flood motif works as a stepping stone into something more important or relevant for the fictional work to convey to its readers and a reassurance that whatever comes we have survived it once and therefore we may do it again.}},
author = {{Blohmé, Matilda}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Syndafloden - Vatten som liv, vapen och naturkatastrof i modern ungdomsfantasy}},
year = {{2025}},
}