Spaces and Places in the Fantastic: Exploring Fantastic Geographies

This book is an interdisciplinary collection of essays examining the spaces and places central to fantasy, science fiction, and horror across literature, film, television, art, and video games. By employing new and interdisciplinary approaches, this volume highlights the intricate interplay between setting, imagination, and cultural context in the fantastic. Through its diverse themes and texts, it provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary research on how spaces both function in and shape fantastic storytelling. What unites these essays is their sharp observations of the complex workings of fantastic geographies and their ability to challenge and contribute to preconceived notions and existing research. The included essays explore how fantastic landscapes – from soundscapes and digital worlds to bodies in and as spaces – shape identity, reflect social ideas and norms, and challenge perceptions of the real world. Contributions from international scholars address a wide range of topics, such as queer and digital spaces, cartography, and the fine arts, offering fresh perspectives on the construction, poetics, and functions of fantastic geographies. The editors are united in their research interest in the fantastic and literary geography. The essays collected in this edited volume are based on a conference they organised in 2022 at TU Dortmund University, Germany. Read more