How to Build a World

Emory University, Fall 2021

Concept Maps prepared by students in ENG206W, Fall 2021

COURSE DESCRIPTION

What if literary worldbuilding is about more than backdrops for characters or settings in which plots unfold? We often take for granted that literature reflects reality, that it discloses truths about what already exists. But literature also creates. It builds imaginative worlds that are not our own. But how and to what ends?

In this class, all our texts create distinct storyworlds—some realistic, others science fictional, fantastic, alternate histories, or dystopias. We will explore some important ways authors craft their worlds, asking: how do storyworlds relate to politics, ideology, and culture? How does worldbuilding fit into ideas of literary and cultural value? How do different genres, forms, and mediums train us to perceive and read in certain ways (and prevent us from reading in different ways)? Perhaps most important, what is the relationship between fictional storyworlds and the reality of our own collective making?

In this class, we will practice the creative act of close reading to understand how diverse authors construct their storyspaces through the medium of language. We will also attempt to build our own—better—worlds through our assignments. By becoming stronger readers of fictional worlds, we will likewise become better readers, and creators, of our own world.