Taking a zebra to vegas: Allegorical reality in the percy jackson & the olympians series

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Abstract

In his series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians1, Rick Riordan places his teenage hero in a world both familiar and unfamiliar to the contemporary reader. The plot takes place in 21st century USA and yet, this recognizable space is inhabited and controlled by the gods of ancient Greek mythology. Like most others, in this fictive world, the young hero is as oblivious to this strange setting as he is to the fact that he is "a half-blood", being the son of a mortal woman and an immortal father, the sea god Poseidon. The revelation of the truth will mark the beginning of his quest for self, familial identity, and comprehension of the role he is called to play in this dual world. The goal of this paper is to show how, as the narrative progresses, a second dimension arises within the text in which both the fantastic and the mimetic become the bearers of an allegorical inner meaning.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCollision of Realities
Subtitle of host publicationEstablishing Research on The Fantastic In Europe
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH and Co. KG
Pages155-174
Number of pages20
ISBN (Print)9783110276541
DOIs
StatePublished - 29 May 2012

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