Abstract
In this chapter, the author summarizes what has been learned through the three substantive case studies in the book and shows how such studies can be used to create fruitful comparisons between different imaginary worlds. It also illustrates how these forms of comparison can help us differentiate between imaginary worlds proper, worlds of imagination, and the standard cultural world. Criteria such as deep versus shallow worlds, bleed between worlds, and historical contextualization show the way comparison can yield insights that go far beyond the individual substantive cases. In the second part of the chapter, the author outlines the relationship between imaginary worlds and existential and economic alienation in the contemporary world and considers whether these imaginary worlds help fight against or fuel such alienation.
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Notes
- 1.
Imaginary worlds are only one set of social venues an alienated population has turned toward. There are certainly others, such as the tremendous amount of time some people spend participating in one form or another with professional or amateur sport or the huge rise in legalized gambling (which are not unrelated to each other or to imaginary worlds).
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Fife, W. (2022). Imaginary Worlds and Contemporary Alienation. In: Imaginary Worlds. Palgrave Studies in Literary Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08641-0_5
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