Exploring what makes up our Storyworlds and the phenomenon of Narrative Transportation.
1. Overview
Narrative Transportation—or the feeling of being “lost in a book”—has been popular throughout history as a form of escapism. It allows us to go anywhere in the world and beyond and be inside the minds and lives of others through the use of our imagination. “Transportation involves cognition, emotion, and mental imagery, all focused on the story.” 1
Our storyworlds are described in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory as “the ecology of narrative interpretation.”2 — they are the worlds we evoke and ‘inhabit’ when we are transported into a story.
The aim of The Storyworld Project is to explore the infinite unique storyworlds created each time someone imaginatively travels to a narrative space. We want to celebrate the creative possibilities that storyworlds hold, and find ways to imagine stories from new perspectives outside of our own.
The Storyworld Project gives the opportunity to contemplate and consider what our storyworlds are made of, the power stories have in our lives, and the role our cultural background, personal experiences and psychology play in understanding and interpreting stories.
Our storyworlds are described in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory as “the ecology of narrative interpretation.”2 — they are the worlds we evoke and ‘inhabit’ when we are transported into a story.
The aim of The Storyworld Project is to explore the infinite unique storyworlds created each time someone imaginatively travels to a narrative space. We want to celebrate the creative possibilities that storyworlds hold, and find ways to imagine stories from new perspectives outside of our own.
The Storyworld Project gives the opportunity to contemplate and consider what our storyworlds are made of, the power stories have in our lives, and the role our cultural background, personal experiences and psychology play in understanding and interpreting stories.
2. Recent Exhibition
The Storyworld Project held it’s inaugural exhibition at Libreria Bookshop in Shoreditch, London opening from the 29th March – 10th April 2022.
The exhibition featured a diverse group of artists and creatives from around the world who read the story All at One Point by Italo Calvino and responded by externalising a visualisation of their storyworld.
The exhibition invited visitors to read the story, creating their own storyworld, before exploring the different ways in which others have imagined the same story.
︎︎︎ View photos and footage from the exhibition held at Libreria Bookshop here
︎︎︎ View the diverse range of contributed storyworlds visualisations based on the story All at One Point
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The Storyworld Project Opening Night — Photography by Lucy Pullicino
The exhibition featured a diverse group of artists and creatives from around the world who read the story All at One Point by Italo Calvino and responded by externalising a visualisation of their storyworld.
The exhibition invited visitors to read the story, creating their own storyworld, before exploring the different ways in which others have imagined the same story.
︎︎︎ View photos and footage from the exhibition held at Libreria Bookshop here
︎︎︎ View the diverse range of contributed storyworlds visualisations based on the story All at One Point
The Storyworld Project Opening Night — Photography by Lucy Pullicino3. Project Aims
The Storyworld Project focuses on the active role our brains and imaginations have in the construction and processing of narrative worlds. When interpreting a story, we fill in the gaps in texts with our own knowledge and experience. Actants, symbols and dialogues can all mean different things to different people, and affect people in different ways. The Storyworld Project aims to open our minds to the individuality of narrative interpretation, to bolster the importance of diverse creative collaborations, allowing for different perspectives in creative storytelling.
4. References
1. Green M.C. (2021) Transportation into Narrative Worlds.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63614-2_6
2. Herman D., Jahn M., Ryan M.L. (2005) Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory
https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Encyclopedia-of-Narrative-Theory/Herman-Jahn-Ryan/p/book/9780415775120
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63614-2_6
2. Herman D., Jahn M., Ryan M.L. (2005) Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory
https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Encyclopedia-of-Narrative-Theory/Herman-Jahn-Ryan/p/book/9780415775120