Chaucer's Losers, Nintendo's Children, and Other Forays in Queer Ludonarratology (Frontiers of Narrative)

Tison Pugh examines the intersection of narratology, ludology, and queer studies, pointing to the ways in which the blurred boundaries between game and narrative provide both a textual and a metatextual space of queer narrative potential. By focusing on these three distinct yet complementary areas, Pugh shifts understandings of the way their play, pleasure, and narrative potential are interlinked. Through illustrative readings of an eclectic collection of cultural artifacts—from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda franchise, from Edward Albee’s dramatic masterpiece Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter fantasy novels—Pugh offers perspectives of blissful ludonarratology, sadomasochistic ludonarratology, the queerness of rules, the queerness of godgames, and the queerness of children’s questing video games. Collectively, these analyses present a range of interpretive strategies for uncovering the disruptive potential of gaming texts and textual games while demonstrating the wide applicability of queer ludonarratology throughout the humanities. Tison Pugh examines the intersection of narratology, ludology, and queer studies, pointing to the ways in which the blurred boundaries between game and narrative provide both a textual and a metatextual space of queer narrative potential. By focusing on these three distinct yet complementary areas, Pugh shifts understandings of the way their play, pleasure, and narrative potential are interlinked.Through illustrative readings of an eclectic collection of cultural artifacts--from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to Nintendo's Legend of Zelda franchise, from Edward Albee's dramatic masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter fantasy novels--Pugh offers perspectives of blissful ludonarratology, sadomasochistic ludonarratology, the queerness of rules, the queerness of godgames, and the queerness of children's questing video games. Collectively, these analyses present a range of interpretive strategies for uncovering the disruptive potential of gaming texts and textual games while demonstrating the wide applicability of queer ludonarratology throughout the humanities. --Publisher description Tison Pugh examines the intersection of narratology, ludology, and queer studies, pointing to the ways in which the blurred boundaries between game and narrative provide both a textual and a metatextual space of queer narrative potential. By focusing on these three distinct yet complementary areas, Pugh shifts understandings of the way their play, pleasure, and narrative potential are interlinked.0Through illustrative readings of an eclectic collection of cultural artifacts-from Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' to Nintendo's 'Legend of Zelda' franchise, from Edward Albee's dramatic masterpiece 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' to J. K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter' fantasy novels-Pugh offers perspectives of blissful ludonarratology, sadomasochistic ludonarratology, the queerness of rules, the queerness of godgames, and the queerness of children's questing video games. Collectively, these analyses present a range of interpretive strategies for uncovering the disruptive potential of gaming texts and textual games while demonstrating the wide applicability of queer ludonarratology throughout the humanities Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 8 Introduction 12 Part 1 26 1. Theorizing Ludonarratology 28 2. Queering Ludonarratology 55 Part 2 80 3. Win/Loss 82 Pregame: The Thrill of Defeat 82 Geoffrey Chaucer’s Queer Losers and Blissful Ludonarrativity 83 4. Players 110 Pregame: Whose Side Are You On? 110 Edward Albee’s Queer Players and Sadomasochistic Ludonarrativity 111 5. Godgames 139 Pregame: Fun and Games with Sociopaths 139 David Fincher’s Films and Ludonarrativity’s Queer Godgames 141 6. Rules 167 Pregame: May the Better Player Lose! 167 J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels, Muggle Quidditch, and Ludonarrativity’s Queer Rules 168 7. Children 195 Pregame: Of Preschoolers and Prodigies 195 Nintendo’s Queer Children and Questing Ludonarrativity in The Legend of Zelda Video Games 196 Conclusion 224 Notes 236 Works Cited 248 Index 274 Tison Pugh looks at the intersection of narratology, ludology, and queer studies, providing a range of theoretical interpretive strategies for uncovering the queer potential of gaming texts and textual games while demonstrating the wide applicability of queer ludonarratology throughout the humanities.