fictional worldbuilding, Film and media studies, video-game design, creative writing, and screenwriting
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January 27, 2024
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CURRENTLY TEACHING
A course COMPARATIVE FOLKLORE, on world mythologies, theories of narrative and folklore, and the new readings of beloved fairytales and/in the media, taught since 2014, is currently in session with an updated version for the Spring 2024 semester at Hunter College, CUNY, New York City.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
Lily Alexander, “Mythopoetic Suspense, Eschatology & Misterium: Lessons in World-Building from Dostoevsky” in Exploring Imaginary Worlds (Ed. Mark J.P. Wolf. New-York: Routledge, 2020). For the digital version, see page ABOUT. This work was presented at recent conferences on the narrative media and as a lecture at the Sorbonne University of Paris (October, 2020, via zoom).
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NEW AND UPDATED COURSES TAUGHT
The updated edition of the course “Comparative Folklore” on world mythologies, folklore, and relevant (modern-day) storytelling media is scheduled for Spring 2024 (CUNY).
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In addition to the courses on world mythology, taught since 2013, the new course on world-building, titled “Imaginary Worlds,” was launched in the Spring of 2018, and has been taught annually; most recently in the Spring of 2022.
Poster design by Lily Alexander
NEW COURSE. In addition to the regularly taught courses on comparative mythology from around the world, we announced a new interdisciplinary course IMAGINARY WORLDS on Worldbuilding, launched in the Spring 2019, with the support of the English Department of Hunter College, City University of New York. The course filled in within days, with a waiting list.
The course will explore a spectrum of sources, including L.A. Alexander's Fictional Worlds book set and the fascinating chorus of authors with diverse visions and voices from the new Routledge volumes (2017, ed. Mark J.P. Wolf) Revisiting Imaginary Worlds and The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds. Looking forward to an exciting semester with enthusiastic students from various CUNY programs!
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BOOK AWARD. The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds (2018), ed. Mark J.P. Wolf. received a 2018 “book of the year” award in the category “the best of scholarship” from the American Mythopoeic Society. This volume has three articles contributed by this author: “The Hero’s Journey,” “Mythology,” and “Genres.” See below.
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NEW PUBLICATIONS. Three new articles by Lily Alexander on fictional world-building (FWB), its theory, and practice are published in 2018 in The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds, ed. Mark J.P. Wolf. The three new essays on various aspects of FWB are titled: "Mythology," "The Hero's Journey," and "Genres." The latter essay further develops an anthropological theory of genres in the context of how genre systems can enhance many types of interactive narratives, including videogames. The articles in the Routledge Companion outline the effective ways of "conversion of the old with new" (as per Henry Jenkins' paradigm). See detailed Table of Contents under CONTENTS on the Routledge page here.
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CONFERENCES. Part of the fictional world-building discourse, a new study by Lily Alexander was presented in June 2017 at the Stony Brooke University, NY, at the international conference "Cognitive Futures in the Arts and Humanities", titled:
Fictional World-Building and the Anthropology of Consciousness:
Beyond the Human Perspective -- the POV of the Gods, Heroes, Aliens and Fantastic Beings
Abstract
The paper offers a comprehensive overview of the mutual impact between the anthropology of consciousness and recent narrative/media theories. In particular, we will discuss the evolving new knowledge through fictional world-building, its theory and practices, highlighting how this type of activity facilitates the construction, and understanding, of alternative perspectives on the world, and, hence, the development of the mind. The anthropology of consciousness and symbolic anthropology have a tremendous influence on the theories of the mind because these disciplines have the apparatus to examine the diverse forms of consciousness, particularly, in the historical perspective and in its interactions with cultural and social practices. Anthropology is a necessary and “experienced” ally in the studies of cognitive futures, and we must add its point-of-view and conceptual apparatus to those of cognitive sciences, philosophy, literary studies, cultural studies, critical and film theory, and performance studies, which will be also touched upon in this presentation. The essential terms/concepts that are critical to this presenter’s research include: society, ritual symbolism, advanced knowledge, Aristotelian astonishment and anagnorisis (recognition/revelation, including of the hidden truth), and the genre as the behavior-modifying cultural mechanism (as outlined in my book Fictional Worlds). The focal points and case studies will be linked to the fictional worlds of contemporary media and narrative discourse as well as the genres – in particular, the genre systems in the media as a whole. The paper will analyze how the perfomative representations and interactive activities facilitate new POV, helps in developing empathy and new social bonds/affiliations. The print and screen stories associated with (but not limited to) such prominent names as Tolkien, Rowling, Del Toro, Miyazaki, as well as the Strugatsky Brothers and the Coen Brothers will be discussed in the context of genre practices, world-building, and alternative forms of consciousness.
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TEXTBOOK. Fictional Worlds is currently being used as a textbook (Spring semester 2017) at New York University and The City University of New York. It has been effectively employed in various classes for the last four years and, as reported by colleagues and allies, in ten courses.
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NEW ARTICLES. A series of four recently completed studies -- a follow-up to Fictional Worlds -- takes a discussion of world-building in new theoretical directions.
One (see below) is already published, and three are forthcoming in Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds (2017), ed. Mark J.P. Wolf. London--New York: Routledge.
The first of the four new studies, Lily Alexander, "Fictional World-Building as Ritual, Drama, and Medium," is part of the comprehensive volume Revisiting Imaginary Worlds, edited by Mark J.P. Wolf. London--New York: Routledge, 2017. The Kindle edition offers a free sample, including the first pages of this article. Individual articles are available through the academic libraries.
The new publication "Fictional World-Building as Ritual, Drama, and Medium" has the following sections and foci:
Heteroglossia: It’s a Bird? It’s a Plane? (On the debates on what "fictionality" means)
Untying the Knots of Fiction and Reality
Why Always? The Roots of Imaginary Worlds
Fictional Worlds and Ritual Structure: Advancing Self and Society
Being There: Total Immersion, Astonishment, and Enchantment
Guess What? From Myth to Video Game
Interlinking Storyworlds and Perpetual Mythic Networks
Fictional World-Building as Drama: Stories Bring Worlds to Life
Breach and Imbalance: The Dramatic Premise of the Fictional World
Kingdoms of Violence and Spheres of Hope
Fictional World-Building as Medium
The God’s-Eye View: Consciousness of the Higher Order
The Big Bang of the City-Civilization
Strange Urban Types: The City as a Riddle
The Novel as a New Medium
Parallel Lines Crossing: Confusing Math of City Demographics
Modernist as Demiurge: The Creator of Worlds
The Media Is the Message and the Mind
Toward Conclusions
The Play Is the Thing to Catch the Conscience of the King
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ACADEMIC REVIEWS. Recent Book Reviews (2016): see ABOUT, REVIEWS and FOR EDUCATORS
Reviews of Fictional Worlds are published in academic journals:
Semiotica, May 2016
The Russian Review, Issue 75, April 2016, pp. 305-307, and in
Film & History, July, 2016.
The discussion of Fictional Worlds at Harvard University, March 19, 2016.
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See Call for Papers for a new book collection.
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A new course for graduate and undergraduate students based on Fictional Worlds is introduced at New New University, Spring semester 2015. The Tisch School of the Arts, and Dept. of Cinema Studies.
January 2015: a promotional page and interview published on a popular European book site.
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November 2014. A NEW EXPANDED, ILLUSTRATED, and INTERACTIVE edition of Book One is available on the iBookstore, part of the iTune Store. Titled Fictional Worlds I: The Symbolic Journey & The Genre System (282 pages, 25% additional information compare to the 1st print edition, and 100+ visual-interactive features). Three other volumes are coming soon.
PRINT VERSION. Fictional Worlds: Traditions in Narrative and the Age of Visual Culture (Vols. I-IV), which contains all four books of the set, was published in October, 2013. It is available on amazon.com and in stores: Barnes and Nobles, campus bookstores, and other retailers.
DIGITAL VERSION. The four-ebook set, Fictional Worlds, volumes I, II, III and IV, is published on Kindle, visit amazon.com. The Symbolic Journey & The Genre System, Book One of the four-part Kindle set is linked to the print edition.
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Interview with Henry Jenkins, one of the world's leading media theorists, is posted on his website: henryjenkins.com
Professor Jenkins planned this interview series as a six-part discussion of the book Fictional Worlds and its ideas in April 2014.
Please send your questions and comments, using the contact form on this site. Some of the most interesting questions and comments (with permission of their authors) will be posted on storytellingonscreen.com. For readers' comments, see page AUTHOR ASKS READERS.
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Connect on Twitter with TheAlexFW: https://twitter.com/TheAlexFW
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New books by L.A. Alexander are in the pipeline for the Storytelling on Screen series:
On story villains
On story twists
On the art of comedy
On the chronotopes - the time-space models - of fictional worlds (See CHRONOS & TOPOS page of this