April 3 Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions: Un Lun Dun

Small Group Work/Class Discussion: Support your answers with at least one specific quote, scene, or example.

1.      Literary critic Kirsten Tranter explains that China Miéville  is associated with a literary movement called “the New Weird,” which she says is “distinguished by a signal blend of horror and fantasy, predominantly urban locations” and occasionally, a somewhat radical political subtext (418). Where do you see this manifesting in Un Lun Dun? (Note: Miéville is particularly concerned with class issues.)

2.      In his interview with Tranter, Miéville says he strives to represent a Freudian concept called “the uncanny” in his work. In its most basic terms, the uncanny is something familiar yet unfamiliar simultaneously and which is unsettling because of this strange quality. In Miéville’s words, “the uncanny represents the returned repressed, the unforgotten, that which has been unsuccessfully hidden from view” (424). How do you see this manifesting in Un Lun Dun?

3.      How do you see the idea of the uncanny playing out in Coraline? Discuss some points of comparison and contrast between Coraline’s “other” world and the city of UnLondon.

4.      In our section for today, elements of the fantastic that Miéville has established are intruded upon by the real. Most specifically, “armets” turns out to be “RMetS” and “Klinneract” turns out to be “Clean Air Act.” What effect does this have on your interpretation of the text? On its didactic content?

5.      In Wraithtown, objects and buildings are palimpsests—they have been “rewritten” numerous times as time has progressed, but they carry literal ghosts of their former selves. How might this tie into the book’s larger themes?

6.      Zanna and Deeba differ in terms of their priorities in several scenes. Compare and contrast their attitudes about the following:

a.      Their desire to go home

b.      Their duty to the citizens of UnLondon

7.      Literary critic Don Latham says that fantasy can cause child protagonists to “question the values and assumptions of the dominant society” (qtd. in Hintz and Tribunella 328). Do you see this happening in Un Lun Dun? In other texts we have read/watched?

8.      Literary critic Joe Sanders argues that Un Lun Dun encourages critical reading skills in young readers through its depictions of Deeba interacting with the written word. Identify at least one example of this and discuss the extent to which you agree with his idea.

9.      Community organizer Dave Meslin argues that the “chosen one” trope that appears in so much popular media runs the risk of making readers/viewers feel as though they are excused from involvement in activism and politics because they are repeatedly told someone else will fix society for them. To what extent do you agree with this idea? In what ways does Un Lun Dun subvert this tradition?