Fantastic
literature allows authors to set the rules of the worlds they depict,
and these rules provide insight into how authors--and audiences--see and
interact with the real world. This course will examine texts,
both fictional and nonfictional, that deal with the art of fantastic
worldbuilding. How do fantastic worlds reflect values, and whose values
do they reflect? What are the roles of genre expectations and cultural
expectations? What can we learn by looking
at how magic or the supernatural operates in texts? What is often left
out, and what are the results of those omissions? What do successive
generations of authors do about it? By the end of the course, students
will be able to identify the values implicit
in the construction of a given fantasy world, discuss various criticisms
of fantasy worldbuilding and their real-world implications, and develop
strategies for responding to those criticisms. Some familiarity with
genre fantasy or science fiction--literary
or otherwise--is expected.
- Dozent/in: Cassandra Ashton