Notes Toward a Critical Approach to Worlds and World-Building

• Main Author: Stefan Ekman and Audrey Isabel Taylor
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research 2016-09-01
• Series: Fafnir
• Subjects: imaginary worlds; world-building; secondary worlds; fantasy; topofocal analysis
• Online Access: http://journal.finfar.org/articles/notes-toward-a-critical-approach-to-worlds-and-world-building/

Imaginary worlds and how they are constructed are central to fiction. The term world-building, however, has been applied so broadly in scholarship that it has become ambiguous and difficult to use in critical discussions. Aiming to contribute to greater clarity in the critical use of the term, this article introduces the concept of critical world-building. This is distinguished from other types of world-building, such as that performed by an author or reader, mainly by the fact that a critic analyses a world through a combination of their sequential presentation, as complete world, and with critical interpretation and theoretical filters in place, applying all three perspectives simultaneously. Two possible approaches to critical world-building are presented, based on the functions of a world’s building-blocks and how to interpret those functions. The first approach focuses on a world’s “architecture” – its structural and aesthetic system of places – and the form, function, and meaning of those places. The second emphasises the dynamic interplay between building-blocks and their interconnections in a web of explicit, implied, and interpreted information about the world. The authors base their discussion on textual, secondary fantasy worlds but invite applications of critical world-building to other genres and media.