If fictional narratives do indeed create alternate possible worlds, and these alternate possible worlds are both enacted by and embody generic differences, as possible worlds narratology suggests, what happens when the genre of a novel changes as the text unfolds? Does a change of genre equate to a change of fictional narrative world, or a change within the fictional narrative world? If worldlikeness is recognised as a prerequisite for immersion, do genre shifts necessarily entail a disruption of immersion, and is such a potential disruption temporary or lasting? From a creative practice perspective, how and why would a writer steer their novel from one generic orientation to another? And from a possible-worlds theoretical perspective, what does the analysis of such genre changes reveal about the process of identifying genre, the role of genre in the creation of fictional narrative worlds, and the effectiveness of the concept of possibility in accounting for generic differences? This project investigates these questions through creative experimentation and critical examination with the aim of uncovering new insights into the fundamental nature of both genre and fictional narrative worlds. The novel Kaleidoscope attempts to unravel the strategies involved in implementing changes of genre within texts, testing the relationship between genre and immersion within a many-worlds ontological structure and finding significant gaps in existing understandings of what genre is and does. Informed by the findings of this creative process, the critical exegesis applies a possible-worlds informed analysis of genre to the genre-shifting works of César Aira, uncovering not only a greater understanding of the functions and functioning of genre but also important limitations in current narratological approaches to generic analysis. By attempting to apply Marie-Laure Ryan’s seminal semantic typology of fiction to the analysis of Aira’s genre-shifting works, possibility alone is found to provide an insufficient basis for generic differentiation, while the concept of probability – largely overlooked within contemporary narratology – emerges as a vital conceptual tool. The identification of probability emphasis, the generically probable and improbable, and probable accessibility relations in the analysis of genre-shifting texts reveals the importance of probability, not only to analysis, but in the development of fictional worlds. Through the interaction of creative practice and critical examination, these worlds are found to depend as much on the probable as the possible, complicating current conceptualisations of fiction in terms of possible worlds and suggesting that much remains to be discovered about the role and relevance of genre, the relationship between worldlikeness and immersion, and the probability, fictionality, and worldness of fictional narrative worlds
