Unacknowledged Virtue of The Last Unicorn: New Movement of Reevaluation of The Last Unicorn

1 New Movement of Reevaluation of The Last Unicorn:
Influence of Manga, Anime, Games and Other Subculture Phenomena

Peter S. Beagle’s fantasy novel The Last Unicorn has been translated worldwide and reprinted many times since its publication in 1968. In Japan, the Japanese translation of this work was published by Hayakawa Library FT, which started introducing fantasy works in 1979, together with Ursula le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea and several other fantasy masterpieces, and has gained the support of an enthusiastic fan base. However, compared with A Wizard of Earthsea, which had been published in the same year as The Last Unicorn, and gathered attention of critics immediately after its publication, with many papers written by literary scholars, and a number of research books published, there seems to be a significant difference between the acceptance of these two works. While A Wizard of Earthsea was highly praised for its holistic ideological background suggested by magic as a warning against the stalled scientific worldview that dominates modern society, the response from scholars to The Last Unicorn was surprisingly low, despite the fact that magic was also taken up as an important philosophical subject.
Occasionally, when it was mentioned in books that discussed fantasy literature as a social phenomenon, general tone of the mention on The Last Unicorn was often marked as a blatant criticism of the elements supported by the masses, with a bitter analysis of its popular appeal. These two fantasy works, both of which in many ways had a common denominator, would later become a driving force in the American culture of the 70s, but in some ways had also contrasting elements. Rather, this fact seems to provide an interesting case study topic of the spiritual foundation and the cultural phenomena that arose in America.
le Guin’s creative stance clearly had an ideological thematicity that appealed to the interest of the researchers who were the cultural leaders at the time of its publication, and it perfectly suited the feeling of the time demanded by mainstream culture. But while Beagle’s creative style perfectly matched the latent aspirations of the general readers, it was in some ways a little too late and also a little too early for gaining due recognition in the academic arena.
At present, The Last Unicorn is actively taken up as an important subject of academic research in several university dissertations, and it can be confirmed that Peter S. Beagle’s works are eagerly being taken up as objects of study. (note)

note:
Information sites that support the writing of reports at American universities provide various guides for studying the subject of The Last Unicorn, indicating the high demand for this work. Examples of dissertation papers currently available on the web are Christopher S. Cordry’s “Spring Comes to the Wasteland: A Psychological Study of Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn”, Pacifica Graduate Institute, (2014), 61; 1527515; and Jade Donigan’s “Platonic Forms and “Unicorns: Plato’s Philosophy in Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn”, Portland State University, (2014).


The notable trend seems to be found in the evaluation of the existential principle of ambiguous “superposition” that parallelizes countless contradictions, as verified by the discovery of quantum mechanics, and the reevaluation of the concept of “archetype” that Jungian depth psychology discovered in the philosophy of alchemy. These actually fit the momentum for the reconstruction of psychology and cosmology that attracted the interest of educated people in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (note)

note:
Regarding the historical correlation between the generation of fantasy literature and the new metaphysical interest that arose within physics/psychology, the author examined the phase reflecting the fictional archetype embodied in the film Peter Pan, in an article titled “Individuality of Alternative Works and Identity of the Original Work: Fictional Archetypes Manifested in the Movie Peter Pan and the Original novel Peter and Wendy (1, 2)”, Bulletin of Wayo Women’s University, (54,55), 2014-2015.


In parallel with the publication of Einstein’s Relativity Theory, the Neverland depicted in James M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy also shows the design of constructing a metaphysical hyperspace, that goes beyond the framework of science that assumes only the laws of physics, and tries to grasp the hidden relationship between the mind and the universe.

In view of these changes in the spiritual soil, we are able to reaffirm the true value of The Last Unicorn, a novel with a rare quality, by superimposing it on the changes in the cultural trend of the United States. (note)

note:
The author discussed the metaphysical quality of fantasy literature with a focus on The Last Unicorn. In his study, Fantasy as Antifantasy 2: A Study of Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn, Bokka-sha, (2009), which attempted a comprehensive argument of this fantasy masterpiece, this is the idea that forms the critical axis of its introduction.


This requires reaffirming the subtle qualities of this masterpiece, which are often overlooked or misunderstood, and also the very American cultural context involved in its reception. The influence of contemporary subculture represented by Japanese manga, anime and games, and the cultural propagation and acceptance of the factors leading to their completion, will be reexamined from a new perspective. A good example of this is the animated version of The Last Unicorn, produced by the American production Rankin/Bass in 1982. This animated film is known for its rare quality and stunning visual expression achieved by Topcraft, a Japanese studio that was subcontracted to the company at the time to create the video part. Animated film The Last Unicorn has been screened in many countries in the United States. And through repeated cable TV broadcasts, it is an anime that many people have been familiar with since childhood. But unfortunately, it has not been screened to the public in Japan, and the Japanese disc has not been released yet.

The Last Unicorn is not so “typical” a fantasy work as it is often misunderstood. In fact, the peculiar characteristic that forms the basis of this work is a conspicuously intellectual ideation that can be confirmed through the devising of various descriptive technics, and a self-reflective consciousness that vehemently refuses to proceed with typological mannerisms. Behind the seemingly haphazard progression of the storyline, a unique fictional meaning is created reinforced by elaborate descriptive expressions in the writing. Unfortunately, this seems to be a characteristic that makes it quite difficult to translate everything that is subtly implied in the frame of the story. In this work, one has to detect a special creative strategy that seeks to assert the symbolic meaning of the existence of the unicorn through the denial of narrative elements that should be the main axis of the story, such as the collection of information and the accumulation of conditions, gained through selection and judgment of the purpose of action. The appearance of monsters and the practice of magic, which are usually supposed to lead to the typological characteristics of the genre, are sometimes even bluntly narrated, reflecting a deep skepticism about the very elements that make up ordinary fantasy worlds, it is evident if one follows them in detail in the context of their description. (note)

note:
The author took up this characteristic of The Last Unicorn by calling it the “manga element,”which is a phase of irony peculiar to Japanese culture, and it is discussed in “Postmodernist Strategies in Antifantasy: Beagle’s The Last Unicorn and ‘manga’ Element”, which is included in his fantasy study, Fantasy as Antifantasy, Kindai Bungei-sha, (2005). He pointed out in this research book, that highly self-reflective description with an awareness of the non-existent nature of the fictional world forms the core perspective of The Last Unicorn.


This can be seen prominently in the “descriptive method of non-existence” that introduces elements that deny the existence of the Unicorn, the protagonist of this story, and the multi-layered “metafictional structure” in which the characters in the work are clearly aware that they are in a fairy tale. (note)

note:
The reflexive description of a fictional work that is aware of its own fictional structure is called “metafiction.” Various forms of this torsional expression have been confirmed and are recognized as one of the characteristic trends of the 20th-century literature, and there is also a view that points the origin of it to Beagle’s The Last Unicorn. For the effects and ideological significance of these expressional strategies, please refer to the author’s study of fantasy literature, Fantasy as Antifantasy, Kindai Bungei-sha, (2005).


These fictional constructive characteristics of The Last Unicorn can be more effectively ascertained by raising another indicator “antifantasy” linked to it. (note)

note:
Pointing out the latent force of self-destructive intrinsic factors as a new trend that shows the ideological characteristics of fantasy literature, the author developed his study on this subject by establishing an index called “antifantasy” in his research book on fantasy literature, Fantasy as Antifantasy; Kindai Bungei-sha, (2005). Starting with a discussion of Peter and Wendy, this study presents a perspective that summarizes the speculative tendencies maintained by The Last Unicorn.


Contrary to the typical of fantasy literature, which is often mistakenly labeled as the object of naïve affectional taste, Beagle’s masterpiece fantasy possesses a strong destructive quality that subverts stereotype fantasy qualities.
The many instances of metafictional description introduced in The Last Unicorn, that give a cynical impression, were met with a tremendous backlash by some literary critics. Let’s take a fresh look at these distinctive features, which may now sometimes be overlooked.
(note)

note:
Through close examination of the textual descriptions employed in The Last Unicorn, the author attempted to illuminate its metaphysical thematicity in his comprehensive study of The Last Unicorn; Fantasy as Antifantasy 2: A Study of Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn, Bokka-sha, (2009). He has also compiled a research source that complements above study in Annotated Last Unicorn, Kindai Bungei-sha, (2004), which attempts to provide a detailed commentary on the text description of the original The Last Unicorn and the vast reference cases included in it.