CFP - The Call of Other Worlds across Literary and Media Landscape / Il richiamo di altri mondi nel panorama letterario e mediale

edited by / a cura di

Beatrice Masi (Università di Bologna), Chiara Simone (Univerzita Karlova), Julien Wacquez (Université Paris Nanterre)

If you find this world bad, you should see some of the others.

Ph.K. Dick, Metz Speech (1977)

What world is this?
Over the past few decades, works of fiction from different parts of the world and across various media have increasingly been set in worlds that present themselves as distinct from the “one” in which we (seemingly) live. Speculative genres such as science fiction, fantasy, utopia, dystopia, and uchronia have spread with remarkable speed and scope on a planetary scale, becoming central to the ways individuals and communities engage with reality. More and more novels, comics, films, television series, tabletop games, video games, and other virtual spaces transport us to other worlds—whether on a different planet, in another time, an alternate reality, or a parallel universe. These worlds operate under different physical laws and/or social norms, emerge from alternative or future histories, and are inhabited by creatures and shaped by processes or phenomena that do not seem to exist in “our” world.
Meanwhile, several strands of critical humanities, science and technology studies (Bruno Latour, Isabelle Stengers), cultural anthropology (Marisol de la Cadena, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Philippe Descola), decolonial thought (Walter Mignolo), and posthuman feminism (Donna Haraway), have developed a growing interest in practices of “world-making” or “world-building,” which they sometimes refer to as “worlding” (especially Haraway 2008, Latour 2017, and Blaser & de la Cadena 2018).
Yet, despite this proliferation of worlds, the concept of “world” is rarely questioned or treated as problematic. What is a world? What makes a world a world? Does the word “world” mean the same thing from one world to another?
For this issue, we invite contributors to explore these narratives as an ethnographer would, trying to explain both what defines their otherness, their differences, and their worldliness—here understood as what makes them “worlds.” How can a story become a world? Which techniques or devices allow a fictional work to be experienced as a place to inhabit and, precisely, to explore? In addition, we will welcome contributions which examine the motives that drive us toward these other worlds. What makes them so appealing? Why do we keep going (back) to Avatar, Dungeons & Dragons, Dune, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Mad Max, Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, Star Trek, Star Wars, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, The Witcher, and so on and so forth? If we add up the hours humanity has spent playing World of Warcraft since the game’s initial release in 2004, we reach a figure close to 6 million years (McGonigal 2011). For reference, Australopithecus lived between 4.2 and 2 million years ago (during the Pliocene and the Early Pleistocene).
If this is to be understood as “escapism”—a way to shift from the “current reality” to a more “desired reality”—then it should be recognized as a serious form of engagement, perhaps even political engagement. Dreaming of other worlds reminds us that the actual one is merely a possibility; it weakens its grasp on us (Stengers 2018; Mengozzi & Wacquez 2023) and calls for an investigation into the capacities or limits of speculative literature to reflect the reality of ‘our’ world or, on the contrary, to produce counter-narratives that make use of world-building as a critical operation rather than mere entertainment.
Indeed, an increasing number of writers, critics, and readers see a political role in the works they create, analyze, despise, or cherish. The goal is not only to imagine other worlds—alternatives to the ever more frightening one we inhabit—but also to tell different stories and to tell them differently. This is evident, for instance, in the movement that has been taking shape in recent years under the names “solarpunk”, “hopepunk”, and what some have described as “cozy revolution in science fiction”, centered around authors such as Becky Chambers (whose work from 2015 to 2022 have shaped this trend), Annalee Newitz (2023), and Malka Older (2023).
However, doesn’t this multiplication of worlds encourage the fragmentation and polarization of our societies (Sunstein 2017)? As alternative narratives proliferate, the real world itself seems increasingly unreal. Today, we “suspend our disbelief” not only in fiction but also when confronted with current events—climate change, pandemics, war, genocide, fascism, conspiracy theories, alt-facts. Do we now live worlds apart? Or are these worlds still entangled?
While some warn of an impending War of the Worlds—echoing contemporary “new culture wars” (Proctor & Kies 2018)—the making of other worlds is also a deeply collaborative process. Online communities collectively build vast and intricate fictional universes, from the backrooms (https://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/) to the SCP Foundation (http://fondationscp.wikidot.com/). Similarly, interactive storytelling platforms, text-based games (MUDs, Interactive Fiction), and virtual sandboxes such as The Sims, Minecraft, or Fortnite foster new forms of association and cultural invention. These spaces are not merely isolated bubbles; they shape and are shaped by the social, political, and technological landscapes in which they emerge. How, then, do these multiple worlds interact, collide, or converge?
Some possible lines of research may include:

- Theoretical / philosophical analysis of the concept of “world”;

- (Transmedia) narratology;

- Morphology (formal issues, modes of hybridization between different genres);

- Case study / close reading;

- Cultural studies;

- Game studies;

- Sociology of reception (including fan studies and the study of paratexts).

Proposals

«Aura» will evaluate essays about 40,000 characters that with specific methodologies will interpret medial objects that are relevant for the topic. Proposals should include an abstract of 250 words, a preliminary bibliography and a brief biographical note. They should be sent before April 15, 2025 at the following email address: aurarivista@gmail.com. Proposals will be evaluated by the journal’s committee according to originality and relevance. In case of acceptance, articles in Italian, English, French or Spanish should be sent before September 15, 2025. They will be evaluated through a review process and, in case of acceptance, published in a monographic issue. Authors are requested to follow the submission guidelines.

Corpus

A series of possible chronotopes and forms of representation of otherness and otherworldliness is suggested through a provisional and non-binding corpus; indeed, we invite collaborators to explore different genres and media.

Literary Texts and Iconotexts

Akbar P., Leila, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2017.
Atwood M., Oryx and Crake, London, Bloomsbury, 2003.
Atwood M., The Year of the Flood, London, Bloomsbury, 2009.
Atwood M., MaddAddam, London, Bloomsbury, 2013.
Barry K., City of Bohane, London, Jonathan Cape, 2011.
Bertante A., Nina dei lupi, Venezia, Marsilio, 2011.
Catani V., Il quinto principio, Milano, Mondadori, 2009.
Chambers B., A Psalm for the Wild-Built, vol. I, New York, Tordotcom, 2021.
Chambers B., A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, vol. II, New York, Tordotcom, 2022.
Chiang T., Stories of Your Life and Others, New York, Tor Books, 2002.
Chiang T., The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Burton, Subterranean Press, 2010.
Cixin Liu, Il problema dei tre corpi, it. trans. by B. Tavini, Milano, Mondadori, 2017.
Cole G., NaViro, Wellington, Huia Publishing, 2022
Gibson W., Neuromancer, New York, Ace Books, 1984.
Gibson W., Count Zero, London, Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1986.
Gibson W., Monna Lisa Overdrive, London, Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1988.
Hiroko O., The Factory, New York, New Directions, 2019.
Ishiguro K., Never let me go, London, Faber&Faber, 2005.
Kremo L.B., Pulphagus^®, Milano, Mondadori, 2016.
Lynch P., The Prophet Song, London, Oneworld, 2023.
Mairal P., El año del desierto, Madrid, Salto de Página, 2005.
McCormack M., Notes from a Coma, London, Jonathan Cape, 2005.
Morrison G., Burnham C., Nameless, London, Image Comics, 2017.
Newitz A., The Terraformers, New York City, Tor Books, 2023.
Ojeda M., Mandíbula, Barcelona, Candaya, 2018.
Older M., The Mimicking of Known Successes, New York City, Tor Books, 2023.
O’ Neill L., Only Ever Yours, London, Quercus, 2014.
Peeters F., Aâma, en. trans. by E. Gauvin, London, Self Made Hero, 2014.
Rabasa E., Cinta Negra, Ciudad de México, Pepitas de Calabaza,2017.
Rabasa E., La suma de los ceros, Ciudad de México, Pepitas de Calabaza, 2015.
Raimo V., Miden, Milano, Mondadori, 2018.
Robinson K.S., Red Mars. Trilogy of Mars (vol. I), New York, Batman Books, 1992.
Robinson K.S., Green Mars. Trilogy of Mars (vol. II), New York, Batman Books, 1993.
Robinson K.S., Blue Mars. Trilogy of Mars (vol. III), New York, Batman Books, 1996.
Sato Y., Dendera, San Francisco, Haikasoru, 2015.
Sayata M., Life Cerimony, New York, Grove Press, 2022.
Schweblin S., Kentuki, New York, Penguin, 2018.
Singh V., The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet, Zubaan Books, 2013.
Sinha I., Animal’s People, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2007.
Tawada Y., The Emissary, New York, New Directions, 2018.
Trías F., Mugre rosa, Barcelona, Literatura Random House, 2020.
Vaughan B.K., Staples F., Saga Book One, Portland, Image Comics, 2014.
Vaughan B.K., Staples F., Saga Book Two, Portland, Image Comics, 2017.
Vaughan B. K., Staples F., Saga Book Three, Portland, Image Comics, 2019.
Vauhini V., The Immortal King Rao, New York, Grove Press, 2022.
Villacis E., El espejo humeante, Kindle, 2022, https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Eduardo-Villacis-ebook/dp/B0B2DG4DHH#detailBullets_feature_div.

Film, Digital Media & Games

Bois J., 17776 (What Football Will Look Like in the Future), 2017, https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football.
Benioff D. et alii, 3 body problem, 2024-ongoing.
Barker C., Hellraiser, 1987.
Blizzard entertainment,World of Warcraft, 2004.
Brooker C., Black Mirror, 2011-ongoing.
Cameron J., Avatar, 2009.
Capcom, Resident Evil, 1996.
CCP Games, EVE Online, 2003.
CD Projekt RED, Cyberpunk 2077, 2020.
EA Games, The Sims, 2000.
Epic Games, Fortnite, 2017.
Free Lives, Terra Nil, 2023.
Hissrich L.S. The Witcher, 2019-ongoing.
Jaki R., Cyberpunk Edgerunners, 2022.
Linden Lab, Second Life, 2003.
Miller T., Love, Death & Robots, 2019-ongoing.
Mojang Studios, Minecraft, 2011.
Nolan C., Interstellar, 2014.
Oshii M., Ghost in the Shell, 1995.
Ōtomo K., Akira, 1988.
Sakaguchi H. et alii, Final Fantasy series, 1987-ongoing.
Triiodide Studios, Backrooms: Escape Together, 2022.
Villeneuve D., Arrival, 2016.
Villeneuve D., Dune. Part I, 2021.
Villeneuve D., Dune. Part II, 2024.

Collaborative Other Worlds Internet Writings

https://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com
http://fondationscp.wikidot.com/

Essential Bibliography

Barad K., Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning, Durham-London, Duke University Press, 2007.
Blaser M., de la Cadena M., Pluriverse: Proposals for a World of Many Worlds, in A World of Many Worlds, Durham-London, Duke University Press, 2018.
Bloch E., Spirito dell’utopia, ed. by V. Bertolino and F. Coppellotti, Milano, Rizzoli, 2009.
Brioni S., Comberiati D., Italian Science Fiction. The Other in Literature and Film, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Claeys G. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Clark T., The value of ecocriticism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Corigliano F., La letteratura weird. Narrare l’impossibile, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2022.
Demos T.J., Radical Futurisms. Ecologies of Collapse, Chronopolitics, and Justice-to-Come, London, Sternberg Press, 2023.
Derrida J., Marx&Sons. Politica, spettralità, decostruzione, Milano, Mimesis, 2008.
Descola P., La Composition des mondes. Entretiens avec Pierre Charbonnier, Paris, Champs, 2024.
Doležel L., Heterocosmica: Fiction and Possible Worlds, Baltimora, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
Fisher M., The Weird and the Eerie, London, Repeater Books, 2017.
Fisher M., Flatline Constructs: Gothic Materialism and Cybernetic Theory-Fiction, New York, Exmilitary, 2018.
Ghosh A., The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, London, Penguin, 2016.
Haraway D., Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, New York-London, Routledge-Free Association Books, 1991.
Haraway D., When Species Meet, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2008.
Haraway D., Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, Durham, Duke University Press, 2016.
James E., Mendlesohn F. (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Jameson F., Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions, London-New York, Verso, 2007.
Kijiner K.J., Kava L., Santos Perez C., Indigenous Pacific Islander Eco-Literatures, Honolulu University of Hawaii Press, 2022.
Langer J., Postcolonialism and Science Fiction, New York, Springer, 2011.
Landon B., Science Fiction after 1900: From the Stream Man to the Stars, New York, Twayne, 1997.
Latour B., Facing Gaia. Height Lectures on the New Climatic Regime, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2017.
Latour B., Waiting for Gaia: Composing the common world through arts and politics, in What is cosmopolitical design? Design, nature and the built environment, New York, Routledge, 2017, pp. 41-52.
McGonigal J., Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, London, Penguin, 2011.
McNally D., Monsters of the Market: Zombies, Vampires and Global Capitalism, Leiden, Brill Academic Pub, 2015.
Mengozzi C., Wacquez J., On the Uses of Science Fiction in Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences: Meaning and Reading Effects, in «Science Fiction Studies», L, 2, 2023, pp. 145-174.
Mignolo W., The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options, Durham, Duke University Press, 2011.
Moylan T., Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia, Boulder-Oxford, Westview Press, 2000.
Moylan T., Baccolini R. (eds.), Dark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination, New York-London, Routledge, 2004.
Moylan T., Baccolini R. (eds.), Utopia-Method-Vision: The Use Value of Social Dreaming, Oxford-Bern, Peter Lang, 2007.
Moylan T., Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination, ed. by R. Baccolini, Oxford-Bern, Peter Lang, 2014.
Moylan T., Becoming Utopian: The Culture and Politics of Radical Transformation, London, Bloomsbury, 2020.
Pearson G.W., Hollinger V., Gordon J. (eds.), Queer Universes. Sexualities in Science Fiction, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2008.
Proctor W., Kies B., On toxic fan practices and the new culture wars, in «Participations: Journal of Audiences & Reception Studies», XV, 1, 2018, pp. 127-142.
Saiber A., Proietti S., Rossi U. (eds.), Special Issue on Italian Science Fiction, in «Science Fiction Studies», XLII, 2, 2015.
Stengers I., Another Science is Possible. A Manifesto for Slow Science, en. trans. by S. Muecke, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2018.
Stengers I., Science Fiction to Science Studies, in Meyer S. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Science, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp. 25-42.
Stock A., Modern Dystopian Fiction and Political Thought. Narratives of World Politics, New York, Routledge, 2019.
Stone A.R., The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age, Cambridge, MIT, 1995.
Sunstein C.R., #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2017.
Thacker E., In the dust of this planet: Horror of philosophy (vol. 1), Winchester, John Hunt Publishing, 2011.
Thomson I.T., Culture Wars and Enduring American Dilemmas, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 2010.
Viveiros de Castro E., Cannibal Metaphysics, Minneapolis, Univocal Publishing, 2014.
The Warwick Collective, Combined and Uneven Development: Towards a New Theory of World-Literature, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2015.
Wenzel J., The Disposition of Nature: Environmental Crisis and World Literature, New York, Fordham University Press, 2019.
Womack L.Y., Afrofuturism, the World of Black Sci-fi and Fantasy Culture, Chicago, Lawrence Hill Books, 2013.

If you find this world bad, you should see some of the others.

Ph.K. Dick, Metz Speech (1977)

Che mondo è questo?
Negli ultimi decenni, le opere di narrativa in diverse parti del mondo e attraverso vari media sono state sempre più spesso ambientate in mondi che si presentano come distinti da quello in cui (apparentemente) viviamo. Generi speculativi come la fantascienza, il fantasy, l’utopia, la distopia e l’ucronia si sono diffusi con notevole rapidità e portata su scala planetaria, diventando centrali nel modo in cui gli individui e le comunità si confrontano con la realtà. Sempre più romanzi, fumetti, film, serie televisive, giochi da tavolo, videogiochi e altri spazi virtuali ci trasportano in altri mondi, siano essi un altro pianeta, un altro tempo, una realtà alternativa o un universo parallelo. Questi mondi operano secondo leggi fisiche e/o norme sociali diverse, emergono da storie alternative o future, sono abitati da creature e modellati da processi o fenomeni che non sembrano esistere nel “nostro” mondo.
Nel frattempo, diversi filoni delle critical humanities, degli studi sulla scienza e sulla tecnologia (Bruno Latour, Isabelle Stengers), dell’antropologia culturale (Marisol de la Cadena, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Philippe Descola), del pensiero decoloniale (Walter Mignolo) e del femminismo postumano (Donna Haraway), hanno sviluppato un crescente interesse per le pratiche di “world-making” o “world-building”, a cui talvolta si riferiscono come “worlding” (in particolare Haraway 2008, Latour 2017 e de la Cadena 2018).
Tuttavia, nonostante questa proliferazione di mondi, il concetto di “mondo” è raramente messo in discussione o trattato come problematico. Che cos’è un mondo? Cosa rende un mondo tale? La parola “mondo” ha lo stesso significato da un mondo all’altro?
Per questo numero, invitiamo le collaboratrici e i collaboratori a esplorare queste narrazioni come farebbe un etnografo, provando a spiegare cosa definisce la loro alterità, le loro differenze e la loro “mondità”, intesa come ciò che li rende “mondi”. Come può una storia diventare un mondo? Quali tecniche o dispositivi permettono a un’opera di finzione di essere vissuta come un luogo da abitare e, appunto, da esplorare? Inoltre, saranno benvenuti i contributi che esaminano le motivazioni che ci spingono verso questi altri mondi. Cosa li rende così attraenti? Perché continuiamo a frequentare Avatar, Dungeons & Dragons, Dune, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Il Signore degli Anelli, Mad Max, Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, Star Trek, Star Wars, Warhammer, Warhammer 40.000, The Witcher e così via? Se sommiamo le ore che l’umanità ha trascorso giocando a World of Warcraft dall’uscita iniziale del gioco nel 2004, raggiungiamo una cifra vicina ai 6 milioni di anni (McGonigal 2011). Come riferimento, l’Australopithecus è vissuto tra i 4,2 e i 2 milioni di anni fa (durante il Pliocene e il primo Pleistocene).
Se questo deve essere inteso come “evasione” – un modo per passare dalla “realtà attuale” a una “realtà desiderata” – allora dovrebbe essere riconosciuto come una seria forma di impegno, forse anche politico. Sognare altri mondi ci ricorda che quello attuale è solo una possibilità; indebolisce la sua presa su di noi (Stengers 2018; Mengozzi & Wacquez 2023) e richiede un’indagine sulle capacità o sui limiti della letteratura speculativa di riflettere la realtà del “nostro” mondo o, al contrario, di produrre contro-narrazioni che facciano uso del world-building come operazione critica piuttosto che di mero intrattenimento.
Infatti, un numero crescente di scrittori, critici e lettori vede un ruolo politico nelle opere che crea, analizza, disprezza o ama. L’obiettivo non è solo immaginare altri mondi – alternativi a quello sempre più spaventoso che abitiamo – ma anche raccontare storie diverse e raccontarle in modo diverso. Questo è evidente, ad esempio, nel movimento che ha preso forma negli ultimi anni sotto i nomi di solarpunk, hopepunk e quello che alcuni hanno descritto come «cozy revolution in science fiction», incentrato su autori come Becky Chambers (le cui opere dal 2015 al 2022 hanno dato forma a questa tendenza), Annalee Newitz (2023) e Malka Older (2023).
Tuttavia, questo moltiplicarsi di mondi non favorisce forse la frammentazione e la polarizzazione delle nostre società (Sunstein 2017)? Con la proliferazione delle narrazioni alternative, lo stesso mondo reale sembra sempre più irreale. Oggi “sospendiamo l’incredulità” non solo nella narrativa, ma anche di fronte all’attualità: cambiamenti climatici, pandemie, guerre, genocidi, fascismo, teorie del complotto, fatti alternativi. Viviamo ora in mondi separati? O questi mondi sono ancora intrecciati?
Mentre alcuni avvertono di un’imminente guerra dei mondi – che riecheggia le contemporanee “nuove guerre culturali” (Proctor & Kies 2018) – la creazione di altri mondi è anche un processo profondamente collaborativo. Le comunità online costruiscono collettivamente universi narrativi vasti e intricati, dalle backrooms (https://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/) alla Fondazione SCP (http://fondationscp.wikidot.com/). Allo stesso modo, le piattaforme di narrazione interattiva, i text-based games (MUD, Interactive Fiction) e le sandbox virtuali come The Sims, Minecraft o Fortnite favoriscono nuove forme di associazione e invenzione culturale. Questi spazi non sono semplici bolle isolate; essi plasmano e sono plasmati dai paesaggi sociali, politici e tecnologici in cui emergono. Come interagiscono, si scontrano o convergono questi molteplici mondi?
Alcune possibili linee di ricerca includono:

- Analisi teorica / filosofica del concetto di “mondo”;

- Narratologia (transmediale);

- Morfologia (questioni formali, modalità di ibridazione tra generi diversi);

- Case study / close reading;

- Studi culturali;

- Game studies;

- Sociologia della ricezione (compresi i fan studies e lo studio dei paratesti).

Proposte

«Aura» valuterà saggi di circa 40.000 battute che con metodologie specifiche interpretino testi rilevanti per l’oggetto di ricerca. Le proposte devono includere un abstract di massimo 250 parole, una bibliografia preliminare e una breve nota biografica. Gli abstract dovranno essere inviati entro il 15 aprile 2025 al seguente indirizzo e-mail: aurarivista@gmail.com. Le proposte saranno valutate dal comitato della rivista in base ad attinenza e originalità del tema. In caso di accettazione, gli articoli completi, in italiano, inglese, francese o spagnolo, dovranno essere inviati entro il 15 settembre 2025. Saranno valutati attraverso un processo di revisione e, in caso di accettazione, pubblicati in un numero monografico. Per la redazione dei contributi gli autori dovranno seguire le seguenti norme editoriali.

Corpus

Suggeriamo una serie di possibili cronotopi e forme di rappresentazione dell’alterità e dell’altro-mondità attraverso un corpus provvisorio e non vincolante, invitando le collaboratrici e i collaboratori a spaziare tra media e generi differenti.

CFP – The Call of Other Worlds across Literary and Media Landscape / Il richiamo di altri mondi nel panorama letterario e mediale

Proposals

Corpus

Literary Texts and Iconotexts

Film, Digital Media & Games

Collaborative Other Worlds Internet Writings

Essential Bibliography

Proposte

Corpus

Letteratura e iconotesti

Film, media digitali & giochi

Scritture collaborative di mondi virtuali

Bibliografia essenziale