%0 Journal Article
%T Utopia, or There and Back Again. On Worldbuilding Strategies in Utopian and Dystopian Narratives
%A Maj, Krzysztof M.
%J Wielogłos
%V 2014
%R 10.4467/2084395XWI.14.031.2989
%N Issue 3 (21) 2014: Nowe (i stare) światy. Utopie i dystopie w filozofii i literaturze
%P 37-49
%K utopia, dystopia, worldbuilding, world-centered narratives, imaginary journeys, fantasy & SF
%@ 1897-1962
%D 2015
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/wieloglos/article/utopia-czyli-tam-i-z-powrotem-o-zalozeniach-swiatotworczych-narracji-eu-i-dystopijnych
%X 
	The paper aims to analyse worldbuilding strategies in a variety of eutopian (predominantly in literature) and dystopian narratives (in literature, movies and video games), in relation to the world-centred analyse that disseminates in contemporary narrative studies. Consequently, the study derives two possible worldbuilding models from a re­presentative number of utopian texts, that is (1) a typical for early modern utopias and modern imaginary voyages “portal-quest” model (world W1 → gate / journey → world W2) and (2) an emblematic for the most postmodern dystopias mo­del juxtaposing the centre and the peripheries, that deconstructs the first one in postcolonial perspective. Therefore, it becomes possible to compare worldbuilding foundations in so different a narrative like precursory 16th century Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) and 21st century video game Bioshock: Infinite by Irrational Games – which subsequently encourages utopian studies to notice the most contemporary narrative achievements within the genre.