The Medieval Worlds of Neil Gaiman: From Beowulf to Sleeping Beauty

Carroll (Medievalism in A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones) examines in this dry study how fantasy author Gaiman “has absorbed, borrowed, and blended myth, folk-tale, fairy tale, and classic literature into his unique style.” She devotes the most space to Gaiman’s Sandman comics series, exploring how the trip to hell undertaken by protagonist Morpheus, an “anthropomorphic representation of dreams,” draws on the “circular geography” of Dante’s Inferno and the “well-spoken and charismatic Lucifer” from John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Examining Gaiman’s retelling of Brothers Grimm fairy tales, Carroll suggests that the short story “Snow, Glass, Apples” upends “cultural assumptions” around female beauty standards by reimagining Snow White as a malicious vampire hiding behind her fair appearance. Unfortunately, the academic tone can feel bloodless, as when she writes about Gaiman’s novel American Gods, “By leaning on Norse mythology but also pushing back against the monomyth, Gaiman ends up with an interesting antimedievalist medievalism,” and the analysis occasionally seems obvious, as when Carroll notes that the stylization of the enlarged first letter of each section in Gaiman’s riff on “Sleeping Beauty,” The Sleeper and the Spindle, mimics the style of medieval manuscripts. Even the most ardent Gaiman fans may find their attention wandering. (Sept.)