The Iron Dragon's Daughter
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The Iron Dragon's Daughter is a fantasy and science fiction novel by writer Michael Swanwick. The dark and nihilistic tale follows Jane, a changeling girl who slaves at a dragon factory, building part-magical, part-cybernetic monsters that are used as jet fighters; until she crosses paths with an old, rusted dragon named Melanchthon and escapes.
The novel is particularly noteworthy for reinventing (as well as subverting) popular fantasy tropes and archetypes, such as elves and dragons, for which critic John Clute labeled the book an "anti-fantasy." Swanwick admits having written it both as a homage to J.R.R. Tolkien and in reaction to a handful of writers he claims exploit Tolkien's milieu and the readers' imaginations with derivative, commercial fantasy:
- [...] The recent slew of interchangeable Fantasy trilogies has hit me in much the same way that discovering that the woods I used to play in as a child have been cut down to make way for shoddy housing developments did. Template:Ref
The dragon Melanchthon is named after German theologian Philipp Melanchthon, an associate of Martin Luther. Further references to Lutheranism can be found in Swanwick's novel Jack Faust.
Notes
- Template:Note Nick Gevers, "The Literary Alchemist: An Interview with Michael Swanwick" (http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intms.htm), Infinity Plus (24 December 1999)
External links
- "Elves, Dragons, and Anarchy: Convention and Subversion in Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter" (http://www.fantasticmetropolis.com/show.html?rw.irondragon), by Jeff Topham