“Day of Wrath” in the Mirror of Hybrid Fantasy: Typological Similarities of A Song of Ice and Fire by G. R. R. Martin and Hard to Be a God By the Strugatsky Brothers — A Secondary Publication

Abstract

The article presents a comparative and typological study of A Song of Ice and Fire by G. Martin and Hard to Be a God by the Strugatsky brothers. These works are analyzed together with their screen versions. The purpose of the study is to reveal the typological (genre, plot, ideological, philosophical, and narrative) similarities of both works. The conducted research is relevant as the comparative and typological approaches help to understand the ideological and philosophical messages related to the role of an individual in history and the temptations for heroes endowed with supernatural power. This analysis is performed based on a combination of typological and comparative approaches: the comparative approach helps reveal deep similarities between these two works, and the typological approach helps comprehend their role in a wide cultural context. The conclusion is made that A Song of Ice and Fire and Hard to Be a God have several typologically close features. They belong to the genre of hybrid fantasy, they do not have a direct assessment of events, and there is no “all-competent” author’s point of view. Nevertheless, there is a metaphor of “an involved observer” who, nonetheless, is also limited in his possession of information. Both works represent a common psychological motivation of the heroes, which is based on a “mechanical” response to evil with more violent evil; a shift from the Christian tradition, atheistic and agnostic philosophizing are also represented in both works as well as a broken denouement and unresolved lines associated with the fate of the main characters. It should be noted that the works studied here belong to different historical and cultural epochs but they illustrate the development of typologically similar trends in literature and cinema, which are as follows: the strengthening of a pessimistic view of man and history, weakening of the spiritual and moral component, lack of assessment of the heroes’ actions, breakage (or inevitable absence) of denouement. The works of these authors are immensely popular because they satisfy the unspoken “social order,” and in some cases, they form it.