Extra Credit: Continued Reading for Hobb's Farseer trilogy

Academic essays and articles regarding Robin Hobb's writing and her Farseer trilogy

Hey there, friend! Long time no see. A few weeks have passed since writing my last essay. Things have been busy for me. And frankly, I was pretty exhausted after writing my last essay. The piece took me a very long time to write and was the culmination of longs periods of reflection and methodical researching. The themes of masculinity I studied in Assassin’s Quest and other Robin Hobb books took much time to piece together into a cohesive essay, but also involved a lot of personal reflection as well. The toll of writing the piece was exhausting both intellectually and emotionally. But, the effort was well worth it, as I was very proud of how it turned out. And many people (maybe two or three) shared their positive feedback with me, which was nice.

Art by Magali Villeneuve

I’m still trying to reconfigure my writing routine with freelance work picking up again, so my writing time has been sparse. But, I still wanted to provide you all with something to keep your palate wet before the next “real” post.

Throughout my research for the aforementioned essay, I encountered several stimulating materials about Hobb’s writing, as well as other academic investigations surrounding masculinity, fantasy literature, and more. So, I thought I would curate a list of resources that I discovered when writing my essay. All of them provided some tidbit of information or perspective that some how was incorporated into the essay. Even if you didn’t read the essay or any books by Robin Hobb, there are some pieces here that any enthusiast of Fantasy and writing can enjoy.

Fun fact: I found many of these pieces on JSTOR. I recently learned that you can access up to 100 essays, journal entries, and other academic material a month through your local library. Honestly a game changer for me. I love academic papers on Fantasy literature. Or whatever weird niche interest I’m hooked on. You should sign up so you can read some of the essays I share below!

History in the Margins: Epigraphs and Negative Space in Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice by Andrew Oliver

I have written before how Hobb’s use of epigraphs in the Farseer trilogy add incredible depth to her work. You could understand my elation when I stumbled across this paper in a academic journal written about that very same topic. Not only was it exciting to see someone else observing the same things I was, but their words do Hobb’s epigraphs SO much more justice than I ever could. By expanding on ideas about negative space and the historical context of epigraphs, Andrew Oliver delivers an intriguing literary lesson that brings Hobb’s genius to a level where everyone can understand. I couldn’t recommend it enough.

Between World and Narrative: Fictional Epigraphs and Critical World-Building by Stefan Ekman and Audrey Isabel Taylor

Continuing on our trail of epigraphs, Ekman and Taylor expand more broadly on epigraphs and their various uses in aiding the world-building for stories that take place in secondary worlds (i.e. not our own world. Earth. Reality. Etc.)

They bring up many strong ways in which epigraphs have been adapted to aid in world-building and how those tactics have evolved over time. They discuss one aspect in how epigraphs aid in world-building that I had not previously discussed: omission.

Often times, we think that in order to flesh out a secondary world, one needs to churn out butt-loads of information to the reader. But Ekman and Taylor observe that there can be just as much building of a world by not explaining everything. Leaving details vague or just out of view force the reader to imagine for themselves the conditions that are required in a world to foster it’s present circumstances.

I found this relevant to Hobb, as it solved a mystery in my head that I hadn’t been able to solve: How can I know so much information about these characters and the Six Duchies without tomes of information? Her books are long, but by no means as long as any Game of Thrones or Stormlight Archive book. It is through her deliberate witholding of information and tactful deployment of clues about her world does Hobb foster a sense of a fleshed out setting. Besides this, there are a ton of lessons to be learned from this piece.

“Our assertion is ultimately that epigraphs are deserving of thoughtful analysis in any critical world-building enterprise. Whether they set a mood, foreground crucial or interesting details, offer alternative perspectives, add to the illusion that there is more world just out of sight, or contribute to the world in other ways, the value of world-intrinsic epigraphs should not be underestimated.”

Representation of Rape in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders by Sylwia Borowska-Szerszun

Gonna get a bit heavy here. And less relevant to the Farseer trilogy, but an important paper nonetheless. This paper looks at the difference between representations of sexual violence between George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Hobb’s Liveship Trader’s Trilogy.

I always had a horrible nagging in the back of my head. Through watching the Game of Thrones TV series, I really wanted to lose myself in it and become swept away in the masterful storytelling that the show was (up to a point). However, something always held me back. Perhaps it had to do with the once or twice per season that my girlfriend at the time— who had seen the show before— would pause the episode, skip ahead a few minutes, then continue. This was an interesting exercise because even though I didn’t witness the violence in the show, those scenes felt needless.

These moments kept me from accepting the narrative as “perfect,” if that is even possible. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. But simultaneously, I couldn’t find the words to articulate my feelings.

And then I read Hobb’s Liveship Traders trilogy. And then I read this paper.

Now it is painfully clear why I felt Martin’s depiction of sexual violence was not one I can get behind. More than that, I believe his depictions are harmful.

However, Hobb’s ideals are different. And this paper’s investigation into contrasting the two writer’s writing brought a ton of insight into helping me discuss sexual violence in Assassin’s Quest. I would highly suggest this to anyone who has read any work of Hobb’s (though it contains spoilers) or has consumed the Game of Thrones books or TV show.

Robin Hobb on changing cultures, writing about violence, and the anonymity of living on a farm: The author’s best selling fantasy books tackle complex topics like slavery, gender and sexual violence, in a magical world full of plotting pirates and forgotten dragons By Pauline Bock

Strangely enough, it has been hard to come by much media coverage on Hobb and her books out there. Given, her Realm of the Elderlings books were written over two decades ago, the little commentary from Hobb herself on her own work makes sense. It is as if seemingly her work was unfairly overshadowed by another particular series being released around the same time. Cough, the last article I suggested, cough.

Anyways, the biggest takeaway from this interview with Hobb herself is her own attitudes toward depicting sexual violence in her work. This gave me some direct insight on how to analyze and interpret the things that happen to Fitz in Assassin’s Quest, and thus gave me much valuable insight into understanding why Hobb goes to such lengths to emasculate our main character. It is an interesting read for fans of Hobb and fantasy alike.

Like Game of Thrones, to which the Elderlings has been compared to for its tapestry of voices – although it is often more tightly threaded than GoT’s – the series seriously tackles political, sexual, and physical violence. Unlike GoT, it does so without glossing over or underplaying the consequences: “I try to express how horrifying and ugly violence is”, Hobb says. “I have read descriptions of violence in which it is almost like a beautiful, or a satisfying, or almost a sexual thing, and that always makes me uncomfortable as a reader.” Rape is present in the series, and Hobb made sure to write the scenes from the victim’s perspective. It reads as a traumatic, haunting experience that never fully leaves the characters it happens to. “I did not want it to be written as something lascivious or somehow exciting. I wanted it to be a terrible, terrible thing.”

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I have found that researching stories has become a key part of my writing process nowadays. While I read both for pleasure and for study, throwing a favorite book or author into a JSTOR search has brought me piles and piles of academic journals and essays I had previously not had access to. I lament often about how frustrating it can be that we live in the age of information but cannot find any essays out there that academically scrutinize Sci-Fi and Fantasy stories as much as I think they ought to be. However, I realize that this was less of an issue of scarcity, but rather one of accessibility. I now have pages worth of bookmarked articles from keyword searches I have plugged into JSTOR: “Robin Hobb”, “Hobb”, “Farseer”, “Liveship Trader’s”, “Worldbuilding”, “Epigraphs”, “Fantasy journal”, “Fantasy academic journal”.

I challenge you too, then, to plug in a few of your favorite authors and see what you can learn about your favorite stories. Let me know if you get to reading any of these pieces. I’d love to discuss them with you.

Have a nice day!