[Commlist] Call for Papers: Constructing Fantastical Worlds from Antiquity to the Present

We would like to remind you that the deadline for abstracts for the 
workshop /Constructing Fantastical Worlds: from Antiquity to the 
Present/, to be held at the University of Amsterdam on the 30th of June 
and the 1st of July 2022, is on *15 March 2022*. Abstracts should be 
anonymous and should not exceed 400 words. They can be sent to 
*(constructingfantasticalworlds /at/ gmail.com)*. Please find below the 
(updated) call for papers.

Note that, depending on the state of the pandemic, we will consider the 
option of having a (limited) part of the workshop in a *hybrid format*. 
We therefore also encourage scholars outside Europe to submit an 
abstract. If selected, we will attempt to facilitate the delivery of 
their paper even if it is not possible for them to travel to Amsterdam 
in June/July.

We are also exploring the possibility of publishing the results of the 
workshop as a *collected volume*.

**

*Call for Papers *

*Workshop /Constructing Fantastical Worlds: from Antiquity to the Present/*

*University of Amsterdam, Thursday 30^th June – Friday 1^st July 2022*

*Keynote Speakers: *Dr Benjamin Stevens (Trinity University) and Dr 
Rutger Allan (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

*Organisers:*Caterina Fossi MA (University of Amsterdam), Dr Merlijn 
Breunesse (University of Amsterdam), and Koen Vacano MA (University of 
Amsterdam)

**

This interdisciplinary two-day workshop is devoted to the construction 
of fantastical worlds across various narrative media from antiquity to 
the present.

In recent years, media and literary studies have drawn attention to the 
process of constructing ‘imaginary’ or ‘secondary’ worlds. We define 
these fantastical universes as fictional worlds that involve creatures 
and/or events whose existence and/or occurrence is impossible in our 
actual world. Being often heterotopic and heterochronic and endowed with 
their own geographies, populations, histories, governments, etc., 
fantastical worlds may in complex ways reflect, contrast, and/or 
transcend ordinary reality.

Yet while this phenomenon is generally considered to originate in 
Tolkien, fantastical worldbuilding can be recognised in antiquity as 
well. Recent studies in classical literature and receptions have 
emphasised the fantasy-like quality of classics like Homer’s /Odyssey/, 
Ovid’s /Metamorphoses/, and Plato’s eschatological myths (Rogers & 
Stevens, 2017: 8-9; Nightingale 2002a, 2002b), while linguists and 
narratologists have brought to light literary devices that might be used 
by ancient authors to construct fantastical worlds and mediate the 
audience’s experience of them (e.g., Allan 2020; de Jong 2009; Ryan 1991).

Rarely, however, has the connection been made between the classical and 
contemporary construction of fantastical worlds, let alone between 
classics and modern media studies. The overarching aim of the workshop 
is to launch such an interdisciplinary discussion in search of a 
comparative, diachronic perspective on fantastical worldbuilding.

Principally, the workshop will focus on the *how *of fantastical 
worldbuilding, i.e.,//on the devices and techniques used in different 
times and media to create a fantastical world, as well as the ways in 
which this world is presented as different from yet somehow anchored in 
reality.

We invite papers that address one (or more) of the following research 
questions:

 1. What devices do authors or artists use to construct fantastical
    worlds? (E.g., common ground management, deixis, the general
    rendering of time and space)
 2. How are these fantastical worlds anchored to the audience’s actual
    world, and what devices are used to express this relationship?
    (E.g., metalepsis, immersive/enactive devices, shifts in the deictic
    centre)
 3. How do fantastical worlds encourage the audience to reflect on the
    actual world? (E.g., metaphor, metonymy, contrast)
 4. What differences and similarities exist between the construction of
    fantastical worlds in different periods and different media?
 5. How are the devices used by ancient authors to construct fantastical
    worlds reused (consciously or unconsciously) in later times?
We are interested in contributions from a variety of disciplinary 
backgrounds that discuss the construction of fantastical worlds in or 
across different media (e.g., written narratives, drama, film, 
television, video games). Papers may focus on single narratives, 
authors, and periods, or discuss fantastical worldbuilding techniques 
more broadly, e.g., from a theoretical, comparative or reception point 
of view.

The workshop will take place in Amsterdam on the 30^th of June and the 
1^st of July 2022.

We invite submissions for 25-minute presentations. To register your 
interest, please submit an *anonymous* abstract of *max.* *400 words* 
(excluding references and bibliography) to 
(constructingfantasticalworlds /at/ gmail.com) by the *15*^th *of March 2022*. 
Your name and affiliation should be included in the body of your email. 
We aim to respond no later than the 15^th of April.

Depending on the state of the pandemic, we will consider the option of 
having a (limited) part of the workshop in a *hybrid format*. We 
therefore also encourage scholars outside Europe to submit an abstract. 
If selected, we will attempt to facilitate the delivery of their paper 
even if it is not possible for them to travel to Amsterdam in June/July.

We are also exploring the possibility of publishing the results of the 
workshop as a *collected volume*.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions: Caterina Fossi 
((c.fossi /at/ uva.nl)), Merlijn Breunesse ((m.r.e.breunesse /at/ uva.nl)) and Koen 
Vacano ((k.vacano /at/ uva.nl)).

This workshop is generously funded by OIKOS, the National Research 
School in Classical Studies in the Netherlands, and the gravitation 
project Anchoring Innovation.

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