{"word_count": 548, "character_count": 4086}
Narrative Minds and Virtual WorldsTampere, Finland, May 21st and 22nd 2013Call for Papers, abstract deadline January 31st, 2013Keynote speakers:Marie-Laure Ryan (author of Possible Worlds, Artificial Intelligence and Narrative Theory [1991], Narrative as Virtual Reality [2001] and Avatars of Story [2006]; editor of Cyberspace Textuality [1999] and Narrative across Media [2004])Jarmila Mildorf (author of Storying Domestic Violence [2007]; editor of Magic, Science, Technology, and Literature [2006] and Imaginary Dialogues in English [2011])The postclassical turn in narratology has led to 1) a new emphasis on minds, both fictional and interpretative, and 2) the theoretical discovery of storyworlds. These ideas come together in cognitive-theoretically informed narratology, which is well on its way to getting to grips with the processes of immersion and readerly orientation within the storyworld, and also with perceptual positioning on the levels of storyworld, narration and the actual reading process. This conference discusses, applies and tests narratological theories of world and mind construction in different media, ranging from literature to digital games, classroom interaction and corporate communication.The conference calls for papers from any relevant field of study addressing interfaces of minds and worlds, narrative as well as virtual. Bringing together research on different narrative and quasi-narrative media will reveal both the medium-specific and the transmedial dynamics between inner and outer worlds in narrative sense-making. For instance, the narratological notions of fictional mind construction have lately been informed by theories of spatial and temporal situatedness and its effect on the reading process. The situation of game players immersed in a virtual world involves both interesting similarities with as well as differences to more prototypically narrative environments, particularly in its prioritisation of navigation and problem-solving over empathetic identification. Furthermore, the use of shared storyworlds as foundations for transmedial franchises suggests that worlds may, indeed, be translatable.This conference is inspired by interdisciplinary and transmedial studies of narrative as pursued by, among others, our keynote speakers Jarmila Mildorf and Marie-Laure Ryan. We welcome papers discussing general and theoretical issues, as well as papers focusing on particular texts or cases in any medium. Furthermore, papers may address medium-specificity or disciplinary boundaries as interpretative or methodological challenges.Possible topics include, but are not limited to:medial and intermedial construction of minds and worlds in literature and the everydayadapting storyworlds from one medium to anothersocially distributed minds in everyday conversation, narration and life storiesthe role of fiction and narration in digital gamesmisreading virtual minds in fictionfictional worlds in picture books and graphic novelsvirtual worlds and fictional minds as tools for teachinggame worlds between real action and imaginary spacesnarrative and ludic agency in game playingnarrative, material and visual dimensions of organisational sense-making?Theories of Mind? in different mediaattributing minds and representing worlds in historical narrativesexceptional minds and bodies in fiction and the everydaydream narratives as virtual worldsnarrative embodiment in illness narrativesthe function of stories in marketing and brand developmentPlease send a 250-word abstract to Mari Hatavara (mari.hatavara[at]uta.fi) by January 31st 2013. Be sure to give the title, author(s), affiliation(s), and e-mail address in the same document.The conference is organised by:Mari Hatavara, professor of Finnish literature at the University of Tampere School of Language, Translation and Literary StudiesMatti Hyvärinen, professor of Sociology at the University of Tampere School of Social Sciences and HumanitiesFrans Mäyrä, professor of Information Studies and Interactive Media at the University of Tampere School of Information Sciences