‘We Do Not Sow’: The Economics and Politics of A Song of Ice and Fire
By Matthew McCaffrey and Carmen Elena Dorobăţ
Capitalism and Commerce in Imaginative Literature (forthcoming from Lexington Press)
Abstract: George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire brilliantly illustrates a number of basic principles of political economy. In particular, the richness of his world allows for a detailed account of economic and political relations in human society, and the saga uses its fantasy setting to dramatize and explore important questions about power, conflict, and the state. This essay discusses three economic themes in A Song of Ice and Fire. First, Martin’s novels illustrate some fundamental ideas about political institutions, showing that organized economic exploitation is the foundation of the state. Second, they dramatize the relationship between war-making and public finance, describing the immense (networks of) political power created through control of the treasury, as well as the political logic that drives Lord Baelish and the Lannisters from taxation to borrowing to inflation in order to sustain and conceal the crown’s war debt. Third, we examine how the rhetoric of Westeros’s ruling class prevents the emergence of institutions friendly to peace and social cooperation, especially in the form of market exchange.
Introduction: The wonderful thing about engrossing fantasy worlds is that they can seem more familiar to us than real ones. In fact, this very trait is what makes the fantasy genre one of the most effective for communicating lessons about human life and society. As C.S. Lewis put it,
At all ages, if [fantasy] is used well by the author and meets the right reader, it has the same power: to generalize while remaining concrete, to present in palpable form not concepts or even experiences but whole classes of experience, and to throw off irrelevancies. But at its best it can do more; it can give us experiences we have never had and thus, instead of ‘commenting on life,’ can add to it.
Readers of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire will surely agree. Spanning five books, with two more yet to be published, the series establishes and explores a world of immense depth and richness, not the least part of which is its human detail. For Martin, just as for J.R.R. Tolkien, the conventions of fantasy are less important than how people react to them. In fact, Martin agrees with William Faulkner that the “human heart in conflict with itself” is a central theme for worthwhile writing in any genre. This focus on the human element is what makes his story appear timeless and universal.
At a time when book series of enormous scope and detail are ubiquitous, Martin’s world provides far more than conventional swords-and-sorcery fiction: it also offers a searching account of economic and political relations in human society. The saga uses its fantasy setting to explore numerous social problems and to dramatize important questions about power, conflict, and the state. However, in contrast to novels like Nineteen Eighty-Four or Atlas Shrugged, A Song of Ice and Fire is not dystopian or overtly didactic; instead, the underlying themes are just that — underlying. This in no way reduces the power of the narrative, and if anything, enhances it. The story is personal and human, capturing first the reader’s imagination and empathy, and then, more subtly, her intellect. In this sense it brings Lewis’s remark about the power of fantasy to life.
Click here to read this article from Academia.edu
‘We Do Not Sow’: The Economics and Politics of A Song of Ice and Fire
By Matthew McCaffrey and Carmen Elena Dorobăţ
Capitalism and Commerce in Imaginative Literature (forthcoming from Lexington Press)
Abstract: George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire brilliantly illustrates a number of basic principles of political economy. In particular, the richness of his world allows for a detailed account of economic and political relations in human society, and the saga uses its fantasy setting to dramatize and explore important questions about power, conflict, and the state. This essay discusses three economic themes in A Song of Ice and Fire. First, Martin’s novels illustrate some fundamental ideas about political institutions, showing that organized economic exploitation is the foundation of the state. Second, they dramatize the relationship between war-making and public finance, describing the immense (networks of) political power created through control of the treasury, as well as the political logic that drives Lord Baelish and the Lannisters from taxation to borrowing to inflation in order to sustain and conceal the crown’s war debt. Third, we examine how the rhetoric of Westeros’s ruling class prevents the emergence of institutions friendly to peace and social cooperation, especially in the form of market exchange.
Introduction: The wonderful thing about engrossing fantasy worlds is that they can seem more familiar to us than real ones. In fact, this very trait is what makes the fantasy genre one of the most effective for communicating lessons about human life and society. As C.S. Lewis put it,
At all ages, if [fantasy] is used well by the author and meets the right reader, it has the same power: to generalize while remaining concrete, to present in palpable form not concepts or even experiences but whole classes of experience, and to throw off irrelevancies. But at its best it can do more; it can give us experiences we have never had and thus, instead of ‘commenting on life,’ can add to it.
Readers of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire will surely agree. Spanning five books, with two more yet to be published, the series establishes and explores a world of immense depth and richness, not the least part of which is its human detail. For Martin, just as for J.R.R. Tolkien, the conventions of fantasy are less important than how people react to them. In fact, Martin agrees with William Faulkner that the “human heart in conflict with itself” is a central theme for worthwhile writing in any genre. This focus on the human element is what makes his story appear timeless and universal.
Click here to read this article from Academia.edu
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