Katabasis revisited: A comparative study of the fantasy worlds of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and Ursula Kroeber le Guin

Katabasis in the ancient Greek was an important literary motif since most of its greatest literary heroes experienced it either psychologically together with a bildungsroman point of view or with a physical movement of going underground to contemplate their quest. This motif has survived in literature throughout each literary era and with the development of fantasy literature, it evolved and was revisited in heroic and legendary stories. In this respect, this thesis aims to discuss how the motif of katabasis is applied with bildungsroman effects in John Ronald Reuel Tolkien's, The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (1954) trilogy and The Silmarillion (1977) in comparison to Ursula Kroeber Le Guin'sEarthseahexalogyA Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan (1970), The Farthest Shore (1972), Tehanu (1990), Tales from Earthsea (2001), The Other Wind (2001) and how both of these authors make use of low and high fantasy elements to construct their imaginary worlds. Key Words: Katabasis, Bildungsroman, Quest, Low Fantasy, High Fantasy, Ursula Kroeber Le Guin, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.