Misja: epidemia. Strach przed mutacją jako podstawa światotwórcza gier z trylogii StarCraft II

In the chapter Mission: Outbreak. A Fear of Mutation as the World-building Basis for the StarCraft II Trilogy, Krzysztof M. Maj recognizes the postmodern reinterpre-tation of the figure of the zombie in real-time-strategy-based world-building. Having considered a zombie-centric narrative as central to both the game mechanics (survival scenarios in zombie-infested gameworlds, fortification and last-stands design in tower defense games etc.) and to the retroactive nature of post-apocalypse (zombies as remi-niscence of a former human form), the author proceeds with a detailed analysis of the two major aspects of the StarCraft II storyline: the anthropocentric fear of muta-tion and xenonological need for evolution through assimilation. All things consid-ered, the chapter invites a critical reading of postcolonial and paradigmatic discourses that allows Terrans and the Protoss to reduce the Zerg’s xenobiological ability to evolve through infesting other lifeforms and absorbing their genetic material to a mere parasitism and a travesty of the process of natural evolution. Interpreted as zombie-like xenomorphs, the Zerg seem to reveal an unexpected depth in their design which all the more contributes to a better understanding of how the myth of zombism may influence science fiction and fantastic world-building.Ośrodek Badawczy Facta Fict

Ksenologia i ksenotopografia Bernharda Waldenfelsa wobec podstawowych założeń światotwórczych literatury fantastycznej (Orson Scott Card, Neil Gaiman, George R. R. Martin)

XENOLOGY AND XENOTOPOGRAPHY OF BERNHARD WALDENFELS The paper strives to adapt Bernhard Waldenfels’ xenology and so called ‘xenotopography’ for the philosophico-literary studies in fantastic world-building with a special concern of the ‘portal-quest’ model of fantasy and SF. Following Waldenfel’s remarks on the nature of post- Husserlian diastasis of our world [Heimwelt] and otherworld [Fremdwelt] and acknowledging the consequences of allocating one’s attitude towards the otherness in the symbolical borderland [‘sphere of intermonde’] in between, it is examined whether such a model can occur in the fantastic literature and what may be the consequence of xenotopographic reconsideration of its basic ontological premises. Additionally, the article offers an original xenotopograpfic model of worldbuilding which addresses three carefully chosen case studies of fantastic worlds from Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game tetralogy, Neil Gaiman’s Stardust and George R. R. Martin’s The Song of Ice and Fire. In the end, it is suggested that hitherto presented xenotopography gravely inspired a postmodern shift in the genres of fantasy and SF which results in more ethically conscious representations of the otherness and even more concise and alien comprehensive world-building

Groza systemowej niewiedzy. O dystopijnej rzeczywistości "Przeglądu Końca Świata" Miry Grant

In the chapter Horror of the Systemic Unawareness. On A Dystopian Reality of Mira Grant’s “Newslfesh” Krzysztof M. Maj invites a Foucauldian reading of the epony-mous fear of being unaware of the truth about the “founding lie” of dystopian socio-stasis. While doing so, he proceeds with an analysis of the basic components of dysto-pian narrative, pondering on the subtle relationships between the so-called young adult dystopias, postapocalyptic lore, and “political technology of the body”—with the latter being an ultimate tool of authoritatian control observed in Newsflesh trilogy. Simultaneously, the chapter serves as a concise introduction to contemporary world-centered dystopian narratives, greatly inspired by a deconstructive approach to utopian and dystopian studies, with a particular emphasis on the subversion of metaphysical paradigms and binary oppositions, critique of logocentrism and panopticism, or dis-semination of power/knowledge. Finally, Maj argues that the state of unawareness may be both a curse and a blessing in a dystopian reality—a curse, as it strikes fear into the hearts of subdued citizens who learn thereby to be afraid of any rebellious activities, and a blessing, as it may inspire a strong individual to overcome their fear and challenge the reign of oppressive authorities.Krzysztof M. Ma

Allotopia

Materiały do „Słownika Rodzajów Literackich

Światy władców logosu. O dystopii w narracjach literackich

The article Worlds of Lords of Logos. Dystopian Narratives in Literary Fiction revisits fundamental terminological discrepancies functioning within utopian studies in order to propose a world-centered model for analyzing (e)u-/dystopian narratives. First and foremost, the text proposes to focus on utopian storyworlds rather than storylines and to determine their axiological attribution (i.e. whether they are ideal, eutopian, or non-ideal, dystopian) not by following a specific genre pattern, but by interacting with them as if they were not separated from the empirical reality. Utopia would, therefore, become eutopia or dystopia only when judged as such by the reader or focalizer in their hermeneutic meeting with the text. Secondly, it will be argued that utopias and dystopias prove strikingly similar from the world-building perspective, as they either utilize a travel narrative to guide the protagonist from the empirical to the counterempirical world, or shape an equivalent heterotopia, translating this dual-world opposition into a topography of the walled-off asylum and a surrounding wasteland. Since there is nothing positive or negative in such a way of world-building, any axiological valorization (and, thereby, a recognition of either eu-, or dystopia) would appear only when provided by the character narrator, who can either come from within (in an inclusive type of utopian narratives), or from without (in an adaptative type of utopian narratives) the (e)u-/dystopian world. Consequently, the paper will provide tools for interpreting utopias as eutopias or dystopias, along with a selection of world-building and philosophical categories potentially helpful in describing the imagery of dystopian storyworlds comprising the artificial paradise, “todetitis”, conjuration of reality, the founding lie, anamorphotic illusion of ideal reality, or the eponymous lordship of logos.Krzysztof M. Maj – dr; adiunkt w Katedrze Kulturoznawstwa i Filozofii Wydziału Humanistycznego Akademii Górniczo-Hutniczej w Krakowie; groznawca, teoretyk literatury i narracji; redaktor naczelny czasopisma naukowo-literackiego „Creatio Fantastica”; autor książki Allotopie. Topografia światów fikcjonalnych (2015) oraz artykułów naukowych poświęconych badaniom nad światotwórstwem, grami wideo, narratologią transmedialną i fantastyką (publikowanych m.in. na łamach „Tekstów Drugich”, „Zagadnień Rodzajów Literackich”, „Ruchu Literackiego” czy „Utopian Studies”); współredaktor książek More After More. Essays Commemorating the Five-Hundredth Anniversary of Thomas More’s Utopia (2016), Narracje fantastyczne (2017) oraz Ksenologie (2018).Baltrušaitis Jurgis, Anamorfozy albo Thaumaturgus opticus, przekł. T. Stróżyński, Gdańsk 2009.Baudelaire Charles, Sztuczne raje, przekł. R. Engelking, Gdańsk 2009.Baudrillard Jean, Symulakry i symulacja, przekł. S. Królak, Warszawa 2005.Biedermann Hans, Leksykon symboli, przekł. J. Rubinowicz, Warszawa 2001.Blaim Artur, Gazing in Useless Wonder. English Utopian Fictions 1516–2016, Oxford, New York 2013.Budakov Vesselin M., Dystopia. An Earlier Eighteenth-Century Use, „Notes and Queries” 2010, nr 57.Campbell Mary Baine, Busy Bees – utopia, dystopia and the very small, „Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies” 2006, nr 36.Cousins A. D., Damian Grace, More’s Utopia and Utopian Inheritance, red. A. D. Cousins, D. Grace, London 1995.Ćwikła Paweł, Boksowanie świata. Wizje ładu społecznego na podstawie twórczości Janusza A. Zajdla, Katowice 2006.Derrida Jacques, Ojciec logosu, „Colloquia Communia” 1988, nr 1-3.Disch Thomas Michael, Życie jest dystopijne, „Nowa Fantastyka” 2008, nr 10.Eco Umberto, Sugli specchi e altri saggi: Il segno, la rappresentazione, l'illusione, l'immagine, Milano 1995.Eco Umberto, Po drugiej stronie lustra i inne eseje. Znak, reprezentacja, iluzja, obraz, przekł. J. Wajs, Warszawa 2012.Foucault Michel, Inne przestrzenie, przekł. Agnieszka Rejniak-Majewska, „Teksty Drugie” 2005, nr 6.Foucault Michel, Power/Knowledge. Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972–1977, red. i przekł. Colin Gordon, New York 1980.Fukuyama Francis, Koniec człowieka. Konsekwencje rewolucji biotechnologicznej, przekł. B. Pietrzyk, Kraków 2004.Gaiman Neil, Amerykańscy bogowie, przekł. P. Braiter, Warszawa 2003.Gawor Leszek, Dystopia Stanisława Ignacego Witkiewicza, „Wschodni Rocznik Humanistyczny” 2008, t. 5.Głowiński Michał, Rytuał i demagogia. Trzynaście szkiców o sztuce zdegenerowanej, Warszawa 1992.Heidegger Martin, Drogi losu, Warszawa 1997.Huxley Aldous, Nowy wspaniały świat, przekł. B. Baran, Warszawa 2008.Jameson Fredric, Archeologie przyszłości. Pragnienia zwane utopią i inne fantazje naukowe, przekł. M. Płaza, M. Frankiewicz, A. Miszk, Kraków 2011.Kumar Krishan, Utopianism, Minneapolis 1991.Le Guin Ursula, The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction, New York 1980.Lem Stanisław, Dzienniki gwiazdowe, Warszawa 1976.Lem Stanisław, Wizja lokalna, Wrocław 1983.Leś Mariusz M., Fantastyka socjologiczna. Poetyka i myślenie utopijne, Białystok 2008.Maj Krzysztof M., Allotopie. Topografia światów fikcjonalnych, Kraków 2015.Maj Krzysztof M., Utopia, czyli tam i z powrotem. O założeniach światotwórczych narracji eu- i dystopijnych, „Wielogłos” 2014, nr 3 (21).Miller Peter, Smart Swarm: Using Animal Behaviour to Organise Our World, New York 2010.Monier-Williams Monier, Ernst Leumann, Carl Cappeller, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages, Delhi 2002.Moylan Tom, Scraps of the Untainted Sky. Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia, Boulder 2000.Noica Constantin, Sześć chorób życia współczesnego, przekł. I. Kania, Kraków 1997.Nycz Ryszard, Utopia, antyutopia, science fiction, „Tygodnik Kulturalny” 1977, nr 47.Olkusz Ksenia, Mistrzowie drugiego planu. Motyw zombie w perspektywie literackiego sztafażu – od survival horroru przez dystopię do romansu paranormalnego, „Przegląd Humanistyczny” 2015, nr 3.Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roderdami, red. P. S. Allen, Oxford, 1958, t. 11.Ortega y Gasset José, Bunt mas, przekł. P. Niklewicz, Warszawa 2002.Orwell George, Rok 1984, przekł. Tomasz Mirkowicz, Warszawa 1993.Perrish John Michael, A New Source for More’s „Utopia”, „The Historical Journal” 1997, t. 40, nr 2.Podniesiński Michał, Prawda i władza. Myśli Michela Foucaulta w latach 1956–1977, Kraków 2012.Sargent Lyman Tower, In Defence of Utopia, „Diogenes” 2006, nr 11.Sargent Lyman Tower, Three Faces of Utopianism Revisited, „Utopian Studies” 1994, t. 5, nr 1.Smuszkiewicz Antoni, W kręgu dwudziestowiecznej utopii, w: tegoż, Fantastyka i pajdologia, Poznań: Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne 2013.Standley Fred, Even“More”: Utopian and Dystopiand Visions of the Future 1890–1990, w: More’s Utopia and Utopian Inheritance, red. A. D. Cousins, D. Grace, London 1995.Suvin Darko, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction. On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre, New Haven 1979.Yoran Hanan, More’s Utopia and Erasmus’ No-place, „English Literary Renaissance” 2005, t. 35, nr 1.Zajdel Janusz A., Limes inferior, Warszawa 2004.Zajdel Janusz A., Paradyzja, Warszawa 2004.Zajdel Janusz A., Relacja z pierwszej ręki, red. J. Zajdel, Warszawa 2010.Zajdel Janusz A., Wyjście z cienia, Warszawa 2007.Zamiatin Evgenij, My, przekł. A. Pomorski, Warszawa 1989.11313

Allotopia — An Introduction to The Genre

The article is the first Polish attempt to provide a theoretical framework for a relatively unknown term ‘allotopia’, coined by Umberto Eco in essay Il mondi della fantascienza. However, instead of following rather poststructuralist Eco’s reasoning, the text proceeds with the deconstruction of the underlain dichotomy between real (natural, ordinary, known, empirical, realistic) and unreal (unnatural, extraordinary, unknown, counterempirical, fantastic) world — which is subsequently exposed as fundamental for heretofore fantasy and SF studies. Consequently, the paper encourages postmodern reading of those ‘allotopian’ texts that resign from supporting a colonial, two-world model in favour of philosophy conscious worldbuilding.Artykuł jest pierwszą kompleksową próbą stworzenia teoretycznego zaplecza dla nierozpowszechnionego w polskiej humanistyce terminu „allotopia”, ukutego przez Umberta Eco w eseju Światy science fiction. W miejsce podążania za poststrukturalistycznym wywodem Umberta Eco, przedstawiona zostaje propozycja zdekonstruowania binarnej relacji między realnym (naturalnym, zwyczajnym, znanym, empirycznym i realistycznym) a nierealnym (nienaturalnym, nadzwyczajnym, nieznanym, kontrempirycznym i fantastycznym) światem — jako obowiązującej w dotychczasowych badaniach nad gatunkami fantastycznymi. W konsekwencji, artykuł zachęca do ponowoczesnego odczytywania tych „allotopijnych” tekstów, które rezygnują z wspierania kolonialnego modelu dwuświata na rzecz filozoficznie świadomego światotwórstwa

Wymiary transfikcjonalności

The article Facets of Transfictionality delivers a concise analysis of the newly-introduced narratological concept of “transfictionality” (put forward by Richard Saint-Gelais in the early 2000s). The author discusses the phenomenon as emerging on the border between the text-centred poetics of classical narratology and the world-centred poetics of postclassical narratology by use of Jan-Noël Thon’s and Marie-Laure Ryan’s project of “media-conscious narratology”. Defined as such, transfictionality allows the contemporary phenomena of retelling or cross-over to be described without the necessity of reproducing fan-made concepts and terms of such ilk, and instead rooting them in established theoretical constructs, such as narrative metalepsis. Consequently, the article illustrates the postclassical theory of narrative and the theory of literature with examples more common to media studies, with the aim being to emphasise Ryan’s thesis that transmediality is only a specific case of transfictionality, and that the latter is a far older and better acknowledged concept what is generally understood as the theory of fiction. Moreover, the text follows up on Saint-Gelais’ inspirations derived from Umberto Eco’s cultural semiotics and proposes to introduce an Eco-inspired concept of “xeno-encyclopaedic competence” in order to determine a specific recipient’s competence that allows them to move across not only media or texts but also imaginary worlds, which consequently become their fictional habitats.The article Facets of Transfictionality delivers a concise analysis of the newly-introduced narratological concept of “transfictionality” (put forward by Richard Saint-Gelais in the early 2000s). The author discusses the phenomenon as emerging on the border between the text-centred poetics of classical narratology and the world-centred poetics of postclassical narratology by use of Jan-Noël Thon’s and Marie-Laure Ryan’s project of “media-conscious narratology”. Defined as such, transfictionality allows the contemporary phenomena of retelling or cross-over to be described without the necessity of reproducing fan-made concepts and terms of such ilk, and instead rooting them in established theoretical constructs, such as narrative metalepsis. Consequently, the article illustrates the postclassical theory of narrative and the theory of literature with examples more common to media studies, with the aim being to emphasise Ryan’s thesis that transmediality is only a specific case of transfictionality, and that the latter is a far older and better acknowledged concept what is generally understood as the theory of fiction. Moreover, the text follows up on Saint-Gelais’ inspirations derived from Umberto Eco’s cultural semiotics and proposes to introduce an Eco-inspired concept of “xeno-encyclopaedic competence” in order to determine a specific recipient’s competence that allows them to move across not only media or texts but also imaginary worlds, which consequently become their fictional habitats

Otwarty świat i narracja rozproszona w grze Elden Ring studia FromSoftware

The article Open World and Dispersed Narrative in FromSoftware’s “Elden Ring” tackles a number of design issues associated with open world design in video games. Building upon Tim Ingold’s dis- crepancy of two distinct modes of exploring the reality (wayfaring and trail-following), the author proceeds with analysing how the categories in question might have influenced the design of Elden Ring’s ‘The Lands Between’, which is torn between two different ambitions. One is to create a high fantasy narrative in allotopia, whilst the other is to sustain the principles of procedural rhetoric typical for soulsborne games, well-known for leaning towards a dark fantasy design style both in terms of their aesthetics and narrative content. Consequently, the main goal of this analysis is to propose a potential way of avoiding such inconsequence in open world game design, which is termed here a “ludotopian dissonance”.The article Open World and Dispersed Narrative in FromSoftware’s “Elden Ring” tackles a number of design issues associated with open world design in video games. Building upon Tim Ingold’s dis- crepancy of two distinct modes of exploring the reality (wayfaring and trail-following), the author proceeds with analysing how the categories in question might have influenced the design of Elden Ring’s ‘The Lands Between’, which is torn between two different ambitions. One is to create a high fantasy narrative in allotopia, whilst the other is to sustain the principles of procedural rhetoric typical for soulsborne games, well-known for leaning towards a dark fantasy design style both in terms of their aesthetics and narrative content. Consequently, the main goal of this analysis is to propose a potential way of avoiding such inconsequence in open world game design, which is termed here a “ludotopian dissonance”

Ludotopia. O granicy świata gry

The essay presents an overview of the possible meanings and applications of the newly-coined term ‘ludotopia’, i.e. a “dialectical entanglement of game and space” – which challenges the boundaries of two neighbouring worlds: storyworld and gameworld. Seeking to trace the limitations of a thus defined gaming space, the author proceeds by reflecting upon the end of the game, or, more precisely, the endgame, in order to reconcile it with a notion of horismós (ὁρισμός) popular in more hermeneutically aligned video game studies. While doing so, the paper delivers an analysis of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey showing three distinct stages in which a ludotopia can be opened towards more advanced world-building: (1) exploration and map reveal; (2) synchronisation of intelligible tags; and (3) renewal of narrative motivation. Thanks to a world-centered approach to the interpreted video game, the essay addresses how players inhabit, traverse, explore, and understand the surrounding ludic reality, rather than focusing on video game mechanics or procedures that affect their gameplay. In the end, a precise distinction between the storyworld and gameworld is introduced in order to reevaluate the ways both terms overlap with the aforementioned interpretation of ludotopia.The essay presents an overview of the possible meanings and applications of the newly-coined term ‘ludotopia’, i.e. a “dialectical entanglement of game and space” – which challenges the boundaries of two neighbouring worlds: storyworld and gameworld. Seeking to trace the limitations of a thus defined gaming space, the author proceeds by reflecting upon the end of the game, or, more precisely, the endgame, in order to reconcile it with a notion of horismós (ὁρισμός) popular in more hermeneutically aligned video game studies. While doing so, the paper delivers an analysis of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey showing three distinct stages in which a ludotopia can be opened towards more advanced world-building: (1) exploration and map reveal; (2) synchronisation of intelligible tags; and (3) renewal of narrative motivation. Thanks to a world-centered approach to the interpreted video game, the essay addresses how players inhabit, traverse, explore, and understand the surrounding ludic reality, rather than focusing on video game mechanics or procedures that affect their gameplay. In the end, a precise distinction between the storyworld and gameworld is introduced in order to reevaluate the ways both terms overlap with the aforementioned interpretation of ludotopia

On the structure of gameworld in narrative video games

The article On the structure of gameworld in narrative video games proposes to introduce the term ‘ludotopia’ to Polish game studies in order to further compartmentalise the structure of video gameworld. Having reflected on the consequences of so-called world-centered turn in contemporary digital humanities, the author proceeds to defining archetypal structures that compose realities designed for the purposes of narrative video games, namely: locations and clusters of locations, the latter divided further into biomes and anthromes. The hierarchy introduced thereby is presented as an alternative for already influential (though, arguably, in transmedial world-building studies rather than game studies) trichotomy of mythos, topos, and ethos, as defined by Lisbeth Klastrup and Susana Tosca. In the end, the article cross-references the new structural hierarchy of ludotopographical components with a matrix of popular fantastic settings, seeking to delineate possible similarities between ludotopias and allotopias that would inform both game scholars and game designers on the ways of rapid prototyping of aesthetically diverse imaginary worlds.The article On the structure of gameworld in narrative video games proposes to introduce the term ‘ludotopia’ to Polish game studies in order to further compartmentalise the structure of video gameworld. Having reflected on the consequences of so-called world-centered turn in contemporary digital humanities, the author proceeds to defining archetypal structures that compose realities designed for the purposes of narrative video games, namely: locations and clusters of locations, the latter divided further into biomes and anthromes. The hierarchy introduced thereby is presented as an alternative for already influential (though, arguably, in transmedial world-building studies rather than game studies) trichotomy of mythos, topos, and ethos, as defined by Lisbeth Klastrup and Susana Tosca. In the end, the article cross-references the new structural hierarchy of ludotopographical components with a matrix of popular fantastic settings, seeking to delineate possible similarities between ludotopias and allotopias that would inform both game scholars and game designers on the ways of rapid prototyping of aesthetically diverse imaginary worlds