Towards Positive Places of Death: Fantastic Landscapes of Death in Reaper Man, Mort and The Graveyard Book

This thesis discusses landscapes of death in Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book and Terry Pratchett’s Mort and Reaper Man focusing on the construction of places of death and the purpose of using imagery related to death and dying. It posits that while these three novels happen in places of death, their landscapes subvert existing ideas surrounding places of death and attempt to alleviate the existential dread often associated with death. For the purposes of this thesis, the landscapes of death within the novels are divided into three main types: places of the living, places of the dead and Death’s domain. These are studied in conjunction with fantasy theories, theories on space and place, narratological approaches on the construction of space and place as a vehicle for plot, as well as historical and literary treatment of death. With the help of the theories on space and place, these three main types of landscapes of death are further divided into smaller subcategories that are more capable of revealing how death can be understood and estranged through a fantasy environment. Places of the living consist of places of dying, which are transitional in nature and highlight the difference between the perspectives of the young and the elderly, and places of mourning, which are both traditional and unconventional and highlight time as a healing factor. Places of the dead, on the other hand, are broadened from consisting solely of places of the afterworld, which function to make what comes after death less frightening, to also include places of the undead, which are possible because of the nature of the fantasy genre and show that immortality is not desirable. Additionally, Death’s domain is studied from the perspectives of the immortal and the mortal, which helps normalize the concept of death. Although Mort, Reaper Man and The Graveyard Book succeed in partially alleviating some of the fears commonly associated with death and dying, the novels seem more concerned with making death itself visible and acceptable in a society that often refuses to discuss death