Research Catalog

Title

Building imaginary worlds : the theory and history of subcreation / Mark J. P. Wolf.

Author

Wolf, Mark J. P.

Publication

New York : Routledge, 2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xiv, 394 p. : ill.; 24 cm.

Subject

• Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)
• Fiction > Theory, etc
• Imaginary societies > Authorship

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Machine generated contents note: World-building as a Human Activity -- Toward a Theory of Imaginary Worlds -- 1. Worlds within the World -- Philosophy of Possible Worlds -- Imagination, Creation, and Subcreation -- Degrees of Subcreation -- Story vs. World: Storytelling and World-building -- Invention, Completeness, and Consistency -- Invention -- Completeness -- Consistency -- Immersion, Absorption, and Saturation -- World Gestalten: Ellipsis, Logic, and Extrapolation -- Catalysts of Speculation -- Connecting the Secondary World to the Primary World -- 2. History of Imaginary Worlds -- Transnarrative Characters and Literary Cycles -- Mythical and Unknown World -- Travelers' Tales and the Age of Exploration -- Utopias and Dystopias -- Genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy -- Science Fiction -- Fantasy -- Rise of Mass Media -- Early Cinema and Comic Strips -- Oz: The First Great Transmedial World -- Pulp Magazines -- Developments in Cinema and Theater -- Radio and Television -- Developments in Literature -- Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's Influence -- New Universes and the Rise of the Media Franchise -- Interactive Worlds -- Into the Computer Age -- Worlds as Art and Thought Experiments -- 3. World Structures and Systems of Relationships -- Secondary World Infrastructures -- Maps -- Timelines -- Genealogies -- Nature -- Culture -- Language -- Mythology -- Philosophy -- Tying Different Infrastructures Together -- 4. More than a Story: Narrative Threads and Narrative Fabric -- Narrative Threads, Braids, and Fabric -- Backstory and World History -- Sequence Elements and Internarrative Theory -- Retroactive Continuity (Retcon) and Reboots -- Crossovers, Multiverses, and Retroactive Linkages -- Interactivity and Alternate Storylines -- Story of the World: "Making Of" Documentation -- 5. Subcreation within Subcreated Worlds -- Importance of the Word -- Self-reflexivity -- Subcreated Subcreators and Diegetic World-building -- Evil Subcreators -- 6. Transmedial Growth and Adaptation -- Nature of Transmediality -- Windows on the World: Words, Images, Objects, Sounds, and Interactions -- Transmedial Expansion -- Description -- Visualization -- Auralization -- Interactivation -- Deinteractivation -- Encountering Transmedial Worlds -- 7. Circles of Authorship -- Open and Closed Worlds -- Levels of Canonicity -- Originator and Main Author -- Estates, Heirs, and Torchbearers -- Employees and Freelancers -- Approved, Derivative, and Ancillary Products -- Elaborationists and Fan Productions -- Participatory Worlds -- Creation, Subcreation, and the Imago Dei.

ISBN

• 9780415631198 (hardcover)
• 041563119X (hardcover)
• 9780415631204 (pbk.)
• 0415631203 (pbk.)
• 9780203096994 (ebook)
• 0203096991 (ebook)

LCCN

^^2012016677

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library