The Liminal Quality of Portals: Between Confrontation and Consolation in the Other Worlds of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, The Graveyard Book and The Ocean at the End of the Lane

To linger between two worlds; to perceive the doorway to another reality and to cross — voluntarily or not — the threshold is often the destiny of the literary hero or heroine. This thesis critically examines the function of portals in such fiction and analyses the extent to which moving between the different realities facilitates character transformation for the protagonist. Over the past decades, Neil Gaiman has become one of the most successful authors of portal-fantasy; therefore, this thesis will focus on three of Gaiman’s novels to determine the nature of the portals operating within them. Chapter 1 will discuss the themes of escapism, alienation, and the desire to cross boundaries into unrealistic settings. Another concept to examine is the notion of liminality. Liminality is the state of being in between two worlds and belonging to neither, or belonging to both. The following three chapters will aim their attention at the portals that lead to liminal spaces in Neverwhere ...Show moreTo linger between two worlds; to perceive the doorway to another reality and to cross — voluntarily or not — the threshold is often the destiny of the literary hero or heroine. This thesis critically examines the function of portals in such fiction and analyses the extent to which moving between the different realities facilitates character transformation for the protagonist. Over the past decades, Neil Gaiman has become one of the most successful authors of portal-fantasy; therefore, this thesis will focus on three of Gaiman’s novels to determine the nature of the portals operating within them. Chapter 1 will discuss the themes of escapism, alienation, and the desire to cross boundaries into unrealistic settings. Another concept to examine is the notion of liminality. Liminality is the state of being in between two worlds and belonging to neither, or belonging to both. The following three chapters will aim their attention at the portals that lead to liminal spaces in Neverwhere (1996), The Graveyard Book (2008) and The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013). Each chapter contains three sections, which examine the nature of the portal that leads to the other world, the alien beings and concepts that the protagonist encounters in the secondary world, and the transformation that the protagonist undergoes during their experience of crossing into the these worlds. The thesis investigates the extent to which this transformation relates to the two worlds that the protagonist moves between. Another aim of the thesis, relating to transformation, is to show whether the portals in these narratives lead into a literal and metaphoric darkness, where the protagonist is forced to confront a trauma or hardship, or into light, serving as a domain of consolation, or relief from anguish. The conclusion will show that the ability to traverse between two worlds through a portal in these novels reshapes the protagonists’ understanding of the world around them in very different ways.Show less

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The Liminal Quality of Portals: Between Confrontation and Consolation in the Other Worlds of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, The Graveyard Book and The Ocean at the End of the Lane