1. The Archetypes of the Fisher King and the Wasteland

2. No Immortal Life
The story of the Fisher King comes out of Arthurian legend.
Summary of tale
Modern symbolism
“Until one day, life for him lost its reason. ... He had no faith in any man, not even himself.... He couldn't love or feel loved.... He was sick with experience. He began to die.”
– from “The Tale of the Fisher King” (LaGravenese)

3. Characteristics of the myth
The King
responsible for the future of the kingdom
worldly wealth and power

4. The Wasteland
Sterility
Symbolism/metaphor in modern texts

5. The “Dead Marshes” of WWI
In the Dead Marshes of Mordor

6. Isengard
The Gardens of Isengard (before)
(after)

7. T.S. Eliot Perhaps most famous modernist poet
Wrote “The Waste Land” – brief summary of intent
Like Nietzsche and Tolkien, looked to ancient myth to address modern despair
Like Tolkien, religious.
The White Tree of the King of Gondor