Possible worlds : accessing the fantastic universe

Abstract

Fantasy is often considered an act of imaginative diversion from the mundane, a way of cognitively entertaining, albeit temporarily, the possibility of improbable and impossible artefacts, beings and worlds. In literature, fantasy is considered a rebellious and speculative genre, a literature of subversion since fantastic narratives not only give rise to various fictional possibilities but also tend to exploit fictional extremities. Within the particular narrative structures of possible worlds in fiction, fantastic creations can, however, subsist for the duration of the reading or discursive experience. This dissertation, therefore, examines a number of narrative principles that underpin possible world scenarios in literary texts and which allow reader cognitive access to these worlds. The concepts of minimal and maximal departure, are considered essential to the reader‘s departure into a fictional possible world. The fictional character is also a powerful entity through which an audience can gain access into the fictional universe. Character perspective and focalisation allow for portals to be opened into the fantastic universe within which the reader becomes witness to narrative choices and consequences which impact the same world. In this respect, three narratives of fantasy, J. R. R. Tolkien‘s The Lord of the Rings, George R. R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire and Suzanne Collins‘s The Hunger Games, have been adopted as case studies to establish to what extent these principles are present in the construction of possible world scenarios and when they diverge.