Performing Against Annihilation (eBook)

This book outlines how the protagonists in The Nibelung's Ring, The Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones attempt to construct identities and expand their consciousness manifestations. As the characters in the three works face the ends of their respective worlds, they must find answers to their mortality, and to the threat it implies: the loss of identity and consciousness. Moreover, it details how this process is depicted performatively. In a hands-on and interdisciplinary approach, this book seeks to unveil the underlying philosophical concepts of identity and consciousness in the three works as they are represented audio-visually on stage and screen. Through the use of many practical examples, this book offers both academic scholars and any interested readers a completely new perspective on three enduringly popular and interrelated works.

Lukas Schepp completed his PhD in English Literature at LMU Munich: 'Performing Against Annihilation: Identity and Consciousness in J.R.R. Tolkien, Richard Wagner and George R.R. Martin.' Lukas Schepp specializes in film and media studies, interdisciplinary studies, and philosophical approaches to literature and film. Among others, he has published the essays 'Kubrick's Ambiguous Intermedial Translation of Thackeray's The Luck of Barry Lyndon' and 'Identity and Consciousness in Black Mirror - Be Right Back' in 'East-West Dialogues on the Humanities: Literature, Language, and Culture.' He also coedited this volume together with Prof. Dr. Christoph Bode, Prof. Dr. Michael O'Sullivan, and Prof. Dr. Eli Park. Moreover, he published the chapter 'Toward Sphere Theory: Redefining the Narrative Genres of the Novel and the TV Drama Series' in 'Television Series as Literature: From the Ordinary to the Unthinkable' (Palgrave Macmillan, eds. Dr. Reto Winckler and Dr. Víctor Huertas). Lukas Schepp is also a working filmmaker. He has written the episode Horrorclown for the German primetime procedural series The Criminologist (ZDF, 4.58 million viewers), and the episode Mayday for Wismar Homicide (ZDF, 4.53 million viewers). His sci-fi podcast series Lifepoints is currently in production at Random House. Furthermore, Lukas Schepp has composed numerous film scores for short films as well as symphonic poems for various Munich orchestras.

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This book outlines how the protagonists in The Nibelung's Ring, The Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones attempt to construct identities and expand their consciousness manifestations. As the characters in the three works face the ends of their respective worlds, they must find answers to their mortality, and to the threat it implies: the loss of identity and consciousness. Moreover, it details how this process is depicted performatively. In a hands-on and interdisciplinary approach, this book seeks to unveil the underlying philosophical concepts of identity and consciousness in the three works as they are represented audio-visually on stage and screen. Through the use of many practical examples, this book offers both academic scholars and any interested readers a completely new perspective on three enduringly popular and interrelated works.