https://fafnir.journal.fi/issue/feedFafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research2025-07-30T15:34:23+03:00Fafnir Editors-in-Chiefeditorsinchief@finfar.orgOpen Journal Systems<p><em><span lang="EN-US">Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research</span></em><span lang="EN-US"> is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary academic journal published online twice yearly by the <a href="http://finfar.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research</a> (Suomen science fiction- ja fantasiatutkimuksen seura ry) beginning in 2014. </span></p>https://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/157116“Attuned to Loss”2025-03-18T13:11:04+02:00Radvilė Musteikytė<p>This article analyzes two contemporary novels that reflect on the devastation of the Earth: <em>Bewilderment</em> by American author Richard Powers (2021) and <em>The Moonday Letters</em> (2020) by Finnish author Emmi Itäranta, arguing that both novels invite readers to engage with solastalgia – a distress caused by witnessing environmental changes. The evocation of solastalgia (as an environmentally-attuning readerly affect) is discussed by employing James Phelan’s rhetorical theory of narrative, particularly his and Matthew Clark’s model of three narrative components. Accounting for both content and form, the threefold analysis touches on the many similarities of the seemingly different novels: their Earth-centeredness, the theme of loss and how it is rescaled from personal to environmental, as well as storyworld-internal worldbuilding that repeatedly interrupts the progression of narratives. This reading contributes to discussions about the functioning and functions of fiction in the Anthropocene.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Radvilė Musteikytėhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/157185Ecocritical Perspectives in Naomi Novik’s Uprooted2025-03-05T13:44:56+02:00Peter Melville<p>Eco-fantasy critics often celebrate what Gry Ulstein calls fantasy’s “intrinsic exploratory potential for ecocritical ideas.” It is, however, equally important to acknowledge the possibility of failure that a rhetoric of potentiality necessarily implies. As Ulstein admits, fantasy can reinscribe anthropocentric messaging just as easily as it presents ecological perspectives. Naomi Novik’s environmental fantasy novel <em>Uprooted</em> (2015) offers an example of a text that incorporates elements from both ends of fantasy’s spectrum of ecocritical potential. Specifically, it dramatizes a shift in perspective from an initially negative, human-centered depiction of nonhuman environments toward a vision in which humanity appears considerably less central or important. Capitalizing on fantasy’s capacity to focalize nonhuman points of view, <em>Uprooted</em> evokes philosopher Timothy Morton’s ecological concept of coexistentialism, a key principle of which maintains that within the course of negotiating relations between human and nonhuman beings, sometimes “the only thing to do is to treat beings as people, even if they turn out not to be.” Anthropomorphic gestures of this kind critically challenge assumptions of human exceptionalism and elevate the value of nonhuman life-forms, which in Novik’s novel includes the “heart trees” and magical creatures of the ever-expanding dark forest, whose reverse reclamation of human territories provides the principal antagonistic force of the narrative.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Peter Melvillehttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/159818Review of Hot Equations: Science, Fantasy, and the Radical Imagination on a Troubled Planet2025-03-13T12:57:04+02:00Paula García-Rodríguez<p>Cohn, Jesse S. <em>Hot Equations: Science, Fantasy, and the Radical Imagination on a Troubled Planet</em>. University Press of Mississippi, 2024.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Paula García-Rodríguezhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/160595Review of Animals and Science Fiction2025-04-01T18:44:37+03:00Megan Boothby<p>Castle, Nora, and Giulia Champion, editors. <em>Animals and Science Fiction</em>. Palgrave Macmillan, 2024. ISBN: 978-3031416972.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Megan Boothbyhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/161319Review of Chinese Science Fiction: Concepts, Forms, and Histories2025-04-28T19:03:53+03:00Zichuan Gan<p>Song, Mingwei, Nathaniel Isaacson, and Hua Li, editors. <em>Chinese Science Fiction: Concepts, Forms, and Histories</em>. Springer International Publishing: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024. ISBN: 9783031535413.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Zichuan Ganhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/157598Review of Black Speculative Feminisms: Memory and Liberated Futures in Black Women’s Fiction2025-03-05T18:51:09+02:00Patricia Coloma Peñate<p>Jones, Cassandra L. <em>Black Speculative Feminisms: Memory and Liberated Futures in Black Women’s Fiction</em>. Ohio. Ohio State UP 2024.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Patricia Coloma Peñatehttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/157055Review of Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right2025-02-15T12:26:11+02:00Jaime Segura San Miguel<p>Carroll, Jordan S. <em>Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right</em>. Forerunners: Ideas First. University of Minnesota Press. 2024. ISBN: 9781517917081</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Jaime Segura San Miguelhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/156598Review of Female Heroes in Young Adult Fantasy Fiction: Reframing Myths of Adolescent Girlhood2025-01-29T17:21:31+02:00Maryem Ben Salem<p>Phillips, Leah. <em>Female Heroes in Young Adult Fantasy Fiction: Reframing Myths of Adolescent Girlhood</em>. Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2023.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Maryem Ben Salemhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/160024Review of The Romantic Spirit in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien2025-03-24T13:12:34+02:00Paula Lobato Díez<p>Sherwood, Will, and Julian Eilmann (eds). <em>The Romantic Spirit in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien</em>. Zurich and Jena, 2024 (Cormarë Series 51). ISBN 978-3-905703-51-1.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Paula Lobato Díezhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/156572Review of J. R. R. Tolkien's Utopianism and the Classics2025-01-29T17:48:05+02:00James Hamby<p>Williams, Hamish.<em> J.R.R. Tolkien’s Utopianism and the Classics</em>. Bloomsbury Academic, 2023. ISBN 978–1350241466.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 James Hambyhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/160753Review of Celebrating Tolkien’s Legacy2025-04-20T22:40:11+03:00Kristine Larsen<p>Bunting, Nancy, Seamus Hamill-Keays, and Toby Widdicombe. <em>Celebrating Tolkien’s Legacy</em>. Walking Tree Publishers, 2024. ISBN: 978-3-905703-52-8.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Kristine Larsenhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/161360Review of Mapping Middle-earth: Environmental and Political Narratives in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Cartographies2025-04-29T17:09:43+03:00David Brewer<p>Behrooz, Anahit.<em> Mapping Middle-earth: Environmental and Political Narratives in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Cartographies</em>. Bloomsbury Academic, 2024. ISBN: 9781350290808.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 David Brewerhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/159797Review of Imagining the Celtic Past in Modern Fantasy2025-03-12T16:04:41+02:00Rob Finnigan<p>Fimi, Dimitra, and Alistair J.P. Sims, editors. <em>Imagining the Celtic Past in Modern Fantasy</em>. Bloomsbury Academic, 2023. ISBN 9781350349995.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Rob Finniganhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/156704Review of Identifying Self through Society: A Socio-psychological Perspective of A Song of Ice and Fire2025-02-01T17:48:20+02:00Nicholas Wanberg<p>Dhantal, Smita. <em>Identifying Self through Society: A Socio-psychological Perspective of A Song of Ice and Fire</em>. Christ University, 2024.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Nicholas Wanberghttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/156641Review of The Human Race Vs. the Minorities: Racism, anti-racism, and intelligent non-humans in the world architecture of speculative fiction2025-01-30T19:50:47+02:00Smita Dhantal<p>Wanberg, Nicholas. <em>The Human Race Vs. the Minorities: Racism, anti-racism, and intelligent non-humans in the world architecture of speculative fiction</em>. Tampere University, 2023. ISBN 978-952-03-2949-5.</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Smita Dhantalhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/163381Satire in Egyptian Speculative Fiction2025-07-20T23:30:52+03:00Emad El-Din Aysha2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Emad El-Din Ayshahttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/162745 Hengellisyys J. R. R. Tolkienin fantasiafiktiossa2025-06-12T13:14:07+03:00Jyrki Korpua2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Jyrki Korpuahttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/163463Call for Papers: Fafnir 1/20262025-07-29T18:17:01+03:00Fafnir<p>Call for papers for <em>Fafnir</em> issue 1/2026</p>2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Fafnirhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/163278The Cultural Work of Fantasy in the Anthropocene 2025-07-09T21:54:06+03:00Marek Oziewicz2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Marek Oziewiczhttps://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/163408Editorial 1/20252025-07-24T18:16:39+03:00Merve TaburElise KraatilaJessica NorledgeJari Käkelä2025-07-30T00:00:00+03:00Copyright (c) 2025 Merve Tabur; Elise Kraatila, Jessica Norledge, Jari Käkelä