Inspiracje kulturą antyku i średniowiecza w cyklu powieści Pieśń lodu i ognia George’a R.R. Martina

The sketch constitutes an attempt at interpretation and systematization of the novel series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. The author tries to pay attention to several assorted elements comprising the unquestionable phenomenon of popularity of A Game of Thrones and the subsequent books of the cycle. The analysis examines, above all, the eponymous concept of game, transferred by Martin on many levels: a game with the reader, both literary and psychological, including a game played with topoi, myths, genres and allusions to the history and sources of the European culture. The latter ones seem to be particularly interesting in the context of revival of the idea of education in the master-disciple relation or the method of heuresis. It is also worth noticing that Martin has made a book an object – a key, an artifact, a symbol. Another issue that deserves attention is the use of the motif of the Other – the stranger in A Song of Ice and Fire, especially in the context of the American author’s care for setting the novel in the realities of the ancient and medieval world