Transmedial Narratology

Suspendus aux lèvres d’un conteur, incapables d’interrompre la lecture d’un roman, captivés par un film haletant, nous faisons tous l’expérience quotidienne de ce plaisir apparemment paradoxal que nous tirons de notre insatisfaction provisoire face à un récit inachevé. Bien qu’une mode esthétique et théorique ait tenté de nous convaincre que ce plaisir était honteux, on peut néanmoins avoir l’intuition que le cœur vivant de la narrativité réside précisément dans ce nœud coulant, toujours plus serré à mesure que nous progressons dans l’histoire, qui nous attache à l’intrigue et creuse la temporalité par l’attente impatiente d’un dénouement. Si le récit a quelque chose à voir avec la manière dont nous éprouvons le temps, cette expérience n’apparaît jamais avec autant d’éclat que dans le suspense, la curiosité ou la surprise qui font la force des intrigues fictionnelles. La compréhension des fonctions narratives engage donc non seulement l’analyse littéraire, linguistique et sémiotique, mais aussi l’analyse cognitive et la psychologie des émotions.

Dentro del panorama transmedia televisivo español reciente, destaca la experiencia llevada a cabo por la serie 'Víctor Ros' (TVE). El objetivo de este artículo es centrarse en el empleo del perfil personal en Twitter del detective protagonista como vehículo de expansión transmediática de su universo ficcional. Desde esta perspectiva se han analizado más de mil seiscientos tuits generados, de los cuales cerca de quinientos se corresponden con el relato transmedia previo a la emisión de la serie. Los resultados ponen sobre la mesa el uso dado al perfil del protagonista de una ficción como vía para la narración transmedia en primera persona, así como para interactuar con sus seguidores.

In the midst of the digital revolution, this paper’s significance lies in its contribution to defining how media will change our lives and how we communicate with each other in the years to come. Narrative, as one of the most ancient communication tools, has undergone substantial structural changes. This paper addresses how these changes impact the way we read and write. Does the same story conveyed through different media channels signify in the same manner? In other words, what are the differences between a printed story and a digitally presented one? Have electronic reader devices altered the way stories are told and created? And how is networked communication changing the ways we tell stories? Empowered by technological advancements, any reader now has the ability to become an author, publishing her ideas in blogs, revising encyclopaedia entries in Wikipedia, creating her own fictional world in virtual communities. Can we talk about the existence of narrative in this new environment, or has it metamorphosed into what Henry Jenkins has defined as “transmedia storytelling”?

Unnatural narratology has recently focused our attention on unnatural representations of time. It is usually assumed that the ‘typical sjuzhet’ must be linear, while the ‘variable sjuzhet’ is unnatural and belongs exclusively to experimental works. Instances of time travel are also considered unnatural story elements that have been conventionalised by popular culture. In this article, these supposedly unnatural ingredients of narratives will be examined in the context of the semiotic potential and cultural tradition of European comics. I shall argue that a variable sjuzhet should be considered a natural quality of the medium because of its tabularity and its nonlinear organisation, and that most time travel that we find in comics is a mere extension of the motif of the ‘extraordinary journey’ and does not engender time paradoxes. Thus, it appears that, in the comics tradition, the graphic potential of time travel has predominated over scriptwriting complexities, highlighting the specificity of the ‘graphic imagination’.

The application of new media to 21st-century novels is the trigger of emerging narrative genres, which revolutionize the narrative panorama and leave space for innovative conceptual approaches. The influence of popular new media creates original circumstances for the development of new kinds of interaction between the storytelling and the reader/spectator, accentuating the rising need for social, multimedia engagements. The newest concepts and approaches of the emerging, wide fields of transmediality and intermediality in transmedial narratives are objects of the handbook ‘Fictions of the Internet’. From Intermediality to Transmedia Storytelling in 21st-Century Novels (2018) by Anna Weigel-Heller.

Статтю присвячено огляду перспектив міждисциплінарних медіакультурних студій в сучасній літературній компаративістиці у напрямку до порівняльних культурних досліджень і трансмедіальної наратології. У порівняльних культурних дослідженнях синкретично поєднуються концепти порівняльного літературознавства з вивченням культури в аспекті медіакультурних студій, не обмежуючись лише літературою, а включаючи різні мистецтва, масмедіа, комп'ютерні ігри тощо. Література розуміється лише як одна з медій серед інших медій. Йдеться про трансдисциплінарний поворот в літературній компаративістиці. Порівняльна наратологія, а згодом і трансмедіальна наратологія, у свою чергу розглядається як нова дисципліна на межі літературної компаративістики, інтермедіальності і наратології. Аналізується типологія інтермедіальних форм наратології у класифікаціях ернера Вольфа (Werner Wolf), Марі-Лаури Рійян (Marie-Laure Ryan), Яна-Ноеля Зона (Jan-Noël Thon). Сучасні дослідження різних медіальних форм наративів, що можуть бути присутніми також у кіно, живописі, графіці, балеті, коміксах та інших медіях та відкриття інтермедіальних властивостей наративів-зумовлює переосмислення того, що всі нарації мають виключно мовну природу. Йдеться про теоретико-методологічний синтез наратології, інтермедіальності і літературної компаративістики. Поєднання наративного та інтермедіального підходів до літератури щодалі стає однією з найактуальніших тенденцій сучасної як наратології, так і теорії і практики інтермедіальності.
Ключові слова: літературна компаративістика, порівняльні культурні студії, медіакультурні студії, інтермедіальність, трансмедіальна наратологія, кросдисциплінарні літературні студії.

Tetiana Sverbilova
COMPATIVE LITERATURE: FROM COMPARATIVE MEDIACULTURAL STUDIES TO TRANSMEDIAL NARATOLOGY
The article is devoted to the review of the prospects of multidisciplinary media-cultural studies in modern comparative literature studies towards comparative cultural studies and transmedial naratology. Comparative cultural studies syncretically combine the concepts of comparative literary criticism with the study of culture in the aspect of media-cultural studies, not limited to literature, but also various arts, mass media, computer games, etc. Literature is understood only as one of the media among other media. This is a transdisciplinary turn in comparative literature studies. Comparative naratology, and later transmedial naratology, in turn, is seen as a new discipline on the verge of literary comparativism, intermedialism, and naratology. The typology of intermedial forms of naratology in the classifications of Werner Wolf, Marie-Laure Ryan, and Jan-Noël Thon is discussed. Modern studies of various medial forms of narratives, which may also be present in cinema, painting, graphic arts, ballet, comic books, and other mediums, and the discovery of the intermedial properties of narratives, leads to a rethinking of the fact that all narratives have a purely linguistic nature.
Modern naratology as a separate discipline tends to go beyond purely literary narrative and transfer the concept of narration to other types of arts. Intermediate methodologies have already entered into comparative literature studies and have been successfully used in the analysis of literary works. It is about syncretic theoretical and methodological synthesis of three branches of art studies – naratology, intermedialism and literary comparativism, cross-disciplinary narrative studies. The combination of narrative and intermedial approaches to literature is becoming one of the most urgent tendencies of modern both naratology and the theory and practice of intermediality.
Key words: comparative literature; comparative cultural studies; mediacultural studies; intermediality; transmedial naratology; cross-disciplinary literary studies.

Cet article propose une réflexion sur le potentiel narratif des images. Un aperçu des définitions de la narration, confrontant leurs particularités apporte les dernières tendances de la narratologie post-classique. La question de la narrativisation des images est abordée à partir de quelques exemples artistiques, qui représentent différents différents rapports à la dimension temporelle du récit. En prenant en considération les notions de séquence, d'intrigue et de configuration, une typologie des procédés de narrativisation de l'image fixe est développée.

Abstract. The article describes the issue of constructing a media-hybrid narrative based on both verbal and visual media. In the 20th century, in contrast to the classical principle of illustration, artists and writers create texts-dialogues, i.e. a special artistic form in which the visual and verbal components would co-exist on an equal basis. This interaction of media in experimental narratives can be defined by the concept of the “generating image” (Mourier-Casile & Moncond’huy), according to which the verbal text does not speak directly about the visual image by which it was generated, but op- erates from a distance, creating a complex network of semantic relationships between the media. The article describes the concept of the “generating image” based on Alain Robbe-Grillet’s texts-dialogues, or collaborations – part of his novel “Topologie d’une cité fantôme” (1976). The narrative of the novel, integrating the artist’s books (livres d’artiste) created by Robbe-Grillet in collaboration with artists Paul Delvaux and Rob- ert Rauschenberg and photographer David Hamilton, is constructed with the direct in- volvement of a visual medium. This type of relationship between text and image can be treated within the framework of transmedial narratology exploring the principles of maintaining narrative properties in different media. At the same time, transmedial research practically does not consider the aspects of the text generation created by the collision between media. Applying methodological and analytical tools of transmedial narratology and the analysis of drafts and manuscripts, the author formulates the basic principles of the initiation of narration based on the visual image.

Nowadays the increasing complexity and variety of narratives is challenging narratologists to reconsider many of the concept and tools elaborated so far, since their applicability and descriptive power is facing serious troubles due to some interesting changes in the semiosphere, like the popularity of transmedial narratives, the interactivity allowed by digital media and not least the growing audience's awareness of the strategies used to tell a story. Here I will argue that looking at narrative as a complex system can help to grasp the richness of this domain of research and also help to adapt to the changing landscape the most useful instruments elaborated by narratology. Looking at narrative as a complex system means conceiving narrative as a non-linear phenomenon: i.e., narrativity is a property emerging from the organisation of a system constituted by interdependent components interacting with the environment over time in non-linear ways. More specifically, I will claim that narrativity is an emergent behaviour of the system coupled to certain contexts, i.e. a property which is only present when the scope of the system under scrutiny is expanded so to include its environment as well. And in the case of narrative, the environment typically includes the audience.

A film is a complex organism that exists within a network of cultural, commercial, and technological forces. The Hollywood Blockbuster is a particular kind of film that is designed for big budgets, mass merchandising, and large-scale audience response. What designates a film a blockbuster is the size of its production budget and marketing effort rather than either critical success or popularity. The blockbuster, therefore, has become something of a dirty designation—equated with ostentatious budgets rather than good storytelling—because many blame it for the decline of narrative films. Some even say that the Blockbuster has destroyed Hollywood storytelling. This course will explore the tension between storytelling and action films, with a particular focus on audience response, personal media, the rise of transmedia storytelling, and participatory culture.

A transmídia veio para ficar. A multiplicação de dispositivos, plataformas, telas e o modelo de negócios das franquias, tudo isso conspira a seu favor. Além disso, o conteúdo que nela domina - a cauda longa de histórias contadas, desdobradas e diversificadas em meios audiovisuais - imanta curiosidade dos usuários desses meios.
Desde que foi lançado no Brasil o livro de Henry Jenkins, Cultura da Convergência, no qual o autor desenvolve sua teoria sobre transmídia storytelling, esse tema passou a atrair crescentemente a atenção de todos aqueles que pesquisam e trabalham com as mídias digitais. Hoje o tema se tornou obrigatório como objeto de estudo em todos os cursos que, de uma forma ou de outra, direta ou indiretamente, tratam dos impactos e destinos das redes sociais na cultura humana. Neste volume o leitor encontrará uma miríade de questões implicadas no tema da transmídia e seus desafios presentes. Trata-se de um volume histórico que traz para o público brasileiro o resultado das pesquisas que têm sido desenvolvidas por estudiosos em nosso país, inclusive com contribuições internacionais.
Esse volume apresenta quatorze capítulos escritos por alguns dos principais pesquisadores nacionais e internacionais do tema, oriundos de diferentes áreas e campos do saber, mas todo preocupados com as metamorfoses irreversíveis pelas quais as mídias e as linguagens estão passando. Esta diversidade é prova da relevância e das potencialidades práticas e teóricas da transmídia na atualidade.

L’article présente un genre particulier de récit, le feuilleton médiatique. Il s’agit d’articles de presse qui suivent un événement réel (p. ex. un conflit, une affaire, etc.), provisoirement inachevé ou incomplet, et dont la narration se poursuit au-delà du numéro quotidien. L’information tend ainsi à s’inscrire dans une série qui finit par prendre les contours d’un véritable feuilleton, avec son nœud, ses rebondissements et son éventuel dénouement. Ainsi, loin de fournir un récit atomisé constitué d’unités discrètes et autonomes, le feuilleton médiatique apparaît partiellement structuré et suit une logique séquentielle alternant mises en tension et résolutions de l’intrigue, liages en aval (anaphore, rappels, identifiants) et en amont (cataphores, hypothèses sur la suite, etc.). Dès lors, en l’absence d’une instance narrative centralisée qui aurait pour tâche de planifier l’intrigue, le feuilleton médiatique invite à s’interroger sur la nature de cette « intrigue naturelle » qui émerge au cœur du quotidien, et il nous conduit à reconceptualiser cette notion théorique centrale, aussi bien pour la linguistique textuelle que pour la théorie du récit.

The purpose of this article is to discuss transmedia narratives based on giant lore, which is described by means of examples from folkloristics and transmedia dissemination. Giant lore, particularly the epic Kalevipoeg, a core text of Estonian culture, has generated numerous transmedially circulating texts and various contemporary forms. Through their connections with media, texts about giants continue to participate in the national cultural space; in previous eras, they have been carriers of Estonian identity or, alternatively, have held an important place in the creation of local identities. The latter can be observed today in printed matter, advertisements, and products marketed to the homeland public. However, texts about giants can also be used as a self-characterising image directed beyond national space. The article provides a closer look at ways in which stories connected with giants Kalevipoeg and Suur Tõll are engaged in different levels of media, as well as necessary contextual cultural knowledge for understanding contemporary media clips. Media narratives scholar Marie Laure Ryan emphasises that some transmedia narratives are culturally representative or valuable stories which, when they acquire sudden or accelerated popularity, spontaneously attract new stories in a kind of snowball effect. Such stories spawn the creativity of fans and generate transmedia adaptations. In any event, such a media bundle has a central or core text that acts as a common reference for the remainder of the texts (Ryan 2008). Without a doubt, one of the core texts of Estonian cultural space is the national epic Kalevipoeg (Kalev's Son), which over the past few centuries has performed a range of different functions for Estonians, including impelling them to argue about serious philosophical topics. Nevertheless, Kalevipoeg has preserved the outlines of a simple, explanatory folkloric text, which at different periods of time has been denounced and criticised, adapted or parodied, or reduced into prose retellings. It has inspired speeches in traditional verse form (regivärss) performed on festive occasions; likewise, it has generated amateur theatrical productions and professional elite performances. To put it another way, Kalevipoeg has provided an impulse for a myriad of different texts, corpuses of texts, adaptations, parodies, and rearticulations in different art forms which

The chapter Escape from Linearity. Towards Word-centered Model of Transmedial Narratives provides a critical analysis of the recent theories of transmedia storytelling, using tools provided by transmedial narratology (sensu Jan-Noël Thon) and author’s own contribution to world-building studies. Highly critical of Henry Jenkin’s linear model of transmedia storytelling for its reliance on canonicity and unjustified fan enthusiasm towards neoliberal means of economic control over the expansion of creative content across media, the author seeks better description of contemporary transmedial world-building in Marie-Laure Ryan’s and Lisbeth Klastrup’s approaches, rooting them in Heideggerian phenomenology of dwelling. Having established a theoretical framework allowing to link such concepts as Klastrup’s worldness, Heideggerian wordliness of the world, Saint-Gelais’ xenoencyclopaedia, and Thon’s transmedial world-building, the analysis proceeds towards exemplifying its nexus points in on-going world-building project of StarCitizen, as well as a number of promotional campaigns for popular TV shows (House of Cards), movies (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay), and video games (Deus Ex: Human Revolution).

At the heart of this article is a fairly straightforward assertion: that literature has a trans-verbal level at which it affects us as a work of art. Hence discussing a novel means bringing to the fore not only its overt narrative function but also its covert artistic function: a consideration of the work in light of its aesthetic intention. Following the phenomenological traditions of Roman Ingarden and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, I argue that aesthetic intention does not determine the significance of the art object, which is presumed to be dynamic within a spectrum of meanings. Rather, aesthetic intention takes into account the circumstance of the novel having been actuated into form by an " artistic gesture. " This " gesture " is not physical: it is a metaphorical motion referring to the artist's actuation of an aesthetic intention using one or another medium to give an artwork its perceivable form. In painting, this " gesture " can sometimes be traced through a work's visible brushstrokes or formal composition, but in literature such " gestures " can appear beyond the literal text and remain invisible even while they are experienced in the literary work. The conception of such a " gesture " is meant to incorporate the insights of literary and aesthetic theory, along with poststructuralism, in a critique that allows for structural analysis to also pursue a reconstituted significance. What appears below is more a program of the problem than a full treatment of its implications – a stretching of the canvas, so to speak. But I believe that the articulation of this kernel has a value in itself even if the full unraveling of the subject is yet to come.

Re-thinking the Conversation: A Geomythological Deep Map.

Deep-mapping is a process. It is a process that does not strive to either please or attain authority, it makes no claim on definitive opinion. Rather, deep maps are the structure within which a conversation, or conversations, can flourish between multiple perspectives. Fluid, fragile, flexible, they morph and absorb new inputs, provoking new insights as a by-product rather than as an intentional aim. In this way, the deep map can become a conduit for rethinking geomythological research and representation.
Traditionally, geomythology has been the study of landscape stories through the purview of geoscience with little regard for myth’s own voice. Bounded in the epistemic bias of orthodox perspectives storytelling has been dismissed as an inferior feature in the landscape; a source to be critiqued or stood behind as a bridge for public engagement but not as a partner to be afforded equal value.
It is, however, possible to challenge that stance, to suggest that an alternative is possible. For ‘the world as it is’ does not stand still, it does not pose for a portrait; it is forever in flux.  To map a landscape is more than geography, it is to facilitate a palimpsest of cultural narrative which struggles to be contained within the rigid parameters of a conventionally academic bracket. This chapter introduces such an approach. It seeks to give voice to one stretch of coastline across time, space and disciplines with the aim of not compromising integrity and to re-establish the very foundation upon which normative perspectives reside.

Resumen El estreno en 2014 de La Lego Película (The Lego Movie, Phil Lord y Chris Miller) supuso un importante hito en la historia de la empresa danesa LEGO, erigiendo el filme como pieza clave de la estrategia transmediática que empezaba a tomar forma en el ámbito cinematográfico. Aquel filme, en el que el personaje de Batman gozaba de un especial protagonismo, ha dado paso a un particular spin-off que, bajo el título LEGO Batman: La Película (The LEGO Batman Movie, Chris McKay, 2017), repite algunas de las fórmulas puestas en práctica en La Lego Película e introduce otras nuevas de igual o mayor interés desde un punto de vista intertextual. Este artículo se aproxima al largometraje del superhéroe de DC Comics atendiendo a las particulares estrategias de adaptación, remediación y transmediación que lleva a cabo. A través del análisis de los componentes narrativos que constituyen la propuesta del filme, así como de su puesta en relación con los presentes en los textos impresos, audiovisuales y videolúdicos pertenecientes a la franquicia LEGO Batman, se estudian las distintas estrategias que posibilitan la interconexión entre ellos y moldean el 'macrorrelato' (Scolari, 2009) que, de manera paradigmática, toma forma en la narrativa transmediática resultante. Palabras clave Abstract The release in 2014 of The Lego Movie (Phil Lord and Chris Miller) was an important milestone in the history of the Danish company LEGO, establishing the film as the key piece of the transmedia strategy that was beginning to take shape in the film field. That film, in which the Batman character enjoyed a special role, has given way to a particular spin-off that, under the title The LEGO Batman Movie (Chris McKay, 2017), repeats some of the formulas put into practice in The Lego Movie and introduce new ones of equal or greater interest from an intertextual point of view. This article approaches the feature film starring the DC Comics superhero covering the particular strategies of adaptation, remediation and transmediation that it carries out. Through the analysis of the narrative components that make up the film's proposal, as well as its connection with those present in the printed, audiovisual and video-games texts belonging to the LEGO Batman franchise, this article examines the different strategies that enable interconnection between elements and shape the 'macrostory' (Scolari, 2009) that, in a paradigmatic way, takes form in the resulting transmedial narrative.

Media Borders, Multimodality, and Intermediality is a collection of essays that have found their final forms in dialog with each other. The initial question that was posed was simply ‘what is intermediality?’ To answer this question, one must also ask what a medium is, and where we find the ‘gaps’ that intermediality bridges. Clearly, the supposedly crossed borders must be described before one can proceed to the ‘inter’ of intermediality. We also set out to investigate how the two notions of intermediality and multimodality, rarely discussed together, are related. The aim was to facilitate communication and theoretical cross-fertilization over the borders between the esthetic disciplines, media and communication studies, linguistics, and so forth.

Tutkielman aiheena on visuaalisen tarinamaailman kokemuksen rakentuminen nykykuvataiteen teoksissa.
Käsittelen kohdeteoksinani Sari Bremerin viivasyövytystä ”Astaroth”(2006), Tiina Kivisen monotypiaa ”Glacier
I” (2017) sekä TeamLab kollektiivin digitaalista paikkasidonnaista installaatiota ”Vortex of Light Particles”
(2018) tarinamaailman rakentumisen näkökulmasta. Tutkimukseni tavoitteena on selvittää, millä keinoilla
kuvataiteen teos muodostaa kertomuksen ja luo immersiivisen, fiktiivisen tarinamaailman narratologisessa
mielessä tarkasteltuna.
Käsittelen työssäni visuaalista tarinamaailmaa esteettisenä upottavana kokemuksena, joka rakentuu kokijan
ja teoksen välisessä vuorovaikutuksessa. Lähestyn kohdeteoksiani jälkiklassisen, kokemuksellisuutta sekä
transmediaalisuutta korostavan narratologian näkökulmasta. Hyödynnän tutkimuksessani erityisesti Monika
Fludernikin käsitystä kertomuksen kokemuksellisuudesta sekä David Hermanin tarinamaailman käsitettä.
Aiemmassa tutkimuksessa ei ole juurikaan käsitelty nykykuvataiteen teoksia narratiivisuuden näkökulmasta.
Visuaalisten teosten narratiivisuutta on kyseenalaistettu, ja yksittäisiä kuvia on usein pidetty korkeintaan tekstiä
tukevina kuvituksina, jotka eivät pysty itsenäisesti kertomaan tarinaa. Haastan tutkimuksessani klassisia,
rajattuja käsityksiä narratiivisuuden edellytyksistä ja pyrin laajentamaan narratologista tutkimusta uudenlaisten
teosten pariin.
Pohdin tutkimuksessani tunnekokemuksen merkitystä sekä kuvittelun roolia tarinamaailman
muodostumisessa. Hyödynnän kuvittelun osalta erityisesti Kendall Waltonin tutkimusta aiheesta. Käsittelen
tutkimuksessani myös otsikon roolia paratekstinä kertomuksellisen tulkinnan muodostumisessa. Visuaalisen
teoksen otsikko toimii ikään kuin kehyksenä, joka rajaa tulkintaa tiettyyn suuntaan esimerkiksi otsikon
synnyttämien konnotaatioiden tai intertekstuaalisten viittausten kautta.
Tutkimukseni pohjalta väitän, että visuaalisen tarinamaailman kokemuksellinen rakentuminen on prosessi,
jossa katsojan kuvittelun mahdollistama immersio on erittäin merkittävässä roolissa. Tarinamaailman
rakentuminen tapahtuu psykologisella tasolla, virtuaalikonstruktiona, joka ei ole fyysisesti tavoitettavissa tai
tallennettavissa. Tutkimuksessani korostuu tarinamaailman kokemuksen subjektiivisuus, sillä jokaisen
katsojan kokema tarinamaailma on erilainen. Tarinamaailman rakentumiseen vaikuttavat merkittävästi
katsojan omat mentaalimallit, muistot, kokemukset ja aiemmin kohdatut teokset, jotka väistämättä jättävät
jälkensä tulkintakokemukseen.

Desde hace unos años, la industria de contenidos audiovisuales está inmersa en una gran crisis lo que ha provocado un replanteamiento de las fórmulas tradicionales. Por ello el transmedia se presenta como una posible solución para afrontar la atomización de las audiencias y reconectar con el público joven. Este trabajo tiene como objeto de estudio el análisis de un reciente caso de serie transmedia: `Si Fueras Tú´, que ha sido emitida entre septiembre y octubre de 2017, en Playz, plataforma de contenidos digitales de Radio Televisión Española.

The consistency of narratives within a transmedia production is deemed to be a critical factor of its success. The unique interactive nature of games makes them more liable to break this consistency when employed as one of the delivery channels in a transmedia production, especially when judged on the narrative experience resulting from the ludic engagement afforded by the game as opposed to embedded narratives. This narrative experience is subject to the audience's previous level of exposure to, and resulting memory of, other narrative experiences within the same transmedia production. This research posits the use of a narrative consistency scale to measure the level of consistency of such experiences in terms of the narrative elements of storyworld, events, characters and actions. This allows for an instrument that can be used to measure the narrative consistency of different media experiences, including games, employed in a transmedia production, and invites empirical exploration using questionnaires that employ this scale.

Il volume affronta alcune parole chiave del dibattito contemporaneo come intermedialità, rimediazione, transmedialità. Lo fa in quattro movimenti, con molti case studies sui personaggi transmediali e sul rapporto tra intermedialità e figuralità. A un prologo sugli aspetti teorici, segue una prima parte su trasposizioni e remake  dalla letteratura al cinema e alla televisione (con il viatico della pittura), con Il deserto dei Tartari di Zurlini riletto grazie all'intertesto della pittura metafisica; i molti film tratti da Le avventure di Pinocchio; oppure Paranoid Park di Van Sant: tutte analisi incentrate sul legame tra modo figurativo e modo figurale. Infine, con le cavalcate intermediali di Don Chisciotte e gli innumerevoli adattamenti (spesso incompiuti) del romanzo, tra cui quelli con la regia di Pabst, Welles, Gilliam.
La seconda parte del volume è dedicata ai rapporti intermediali tra cinema, teatro e musical (tra adattamenti e varianti), con le analisi di Fanny e Alexander di Bergman; di Smoking – No Smoking di Resnais; e di Jesus Christ Superstar di Jewison. Si passa quindi alle strategie paratestuali di trailer, videoclip, DVD, titoli di testa, in film come Lola corre di Tyckwer; Sherlock Holmes di Ritchie; Robin Hood di Ridley Scott, impreziosito dai titoli ridipinti da Toccafondo. Nell’epilogo, grazie alla semiotica delle culture e dei media, si torna agli aspetti teorici della traduzione intersemiotica e del transmedia storytelling rispetto all’intermedialità.

Robert Rodriguez claims that his Sin City “translates” Frank Miller’s graphic narratives, its source texts, “directly to the screen.” Surprisingly, however, Ro- driguez’s film includes almost constant references to film noir, to film production, and to cinematic conventions – conventions Rodriguez either adheres to or throws into relief. But this overt remediation of Miller’s narrative actually mirrors Miller’s own remediation of early noir fiction. Noir, in Rodriguez’s hands, becomes more than a style or a story that might appear in various forms. It is a discourse that consists of a particular relationship between a text’s style and its structure. This discourse thus depends upon style, but “style” understood to be the particular way in which the signs will obtain in the context of a medium and its conventions. And if we can define style in this way, we can better understand the relationship between discourse and the material medium in which it presents.

This article demonstrates the importance, when considering style and discourse, of investigating medium-specific methods of signification, as what a sign “means” depends on what the medium is capable of. Particularly at this moment, as investigations of narrative tend toward the cognitive processes and contextual elements involved in its reception, we would do well to bear in mind the relationships – among medium, style, and whatever histories and conventions come with them – that make up discourse, as these relationships constitute the real process of signification.

In: Marta Boni (ed.), World Building, Transmedia, fan, Industries, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, pp. 47-61.

Fantasy and Science Fiction seem to be crucial genres for techniques of transmedia storytelling, with notable contemporary examples such as The Matrix, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Lost, and Heroes. What does Fantasy/Science-Fiction offer as a structural or thematic framework for constructing storyworlds that cross multiple media? If world building is a key concern of transmedia storytelling (Jenkins), the nature of world-creating in these genres is pivotal, and certainly much more evident than in crime, mystery stories and even horror stories; in Science Fiction and Fantasy, in fact, the creation of detailed settings seems to be a structural necessity.
My contribution will focus on Science Fiction writing from a semiotic and narratological point of view, with particular reference to studies on possible narrative worlds and on enunciation. Firstly I will briefly summarize some key aspects of the theory of possible worlds with regard to the Science Fiction genre; on this basis I will tackle a definition of Science Fiction worlds before investigating more deeply their nature. Finally, I will explore the question of narrative transmission, both in regard to the first elements that allow access to the fictional world, and more generally in relation to the enunciative modalities of the genre.

Este capítulo  desarrolla cuatro ejes temáticos: en primer lugar se ocupa de presentar un contexto que da cuenta de la adaptación como reescritura en el ámbito de la relación literatura y cine. Luego, a partir del concepto de transformación cuantitativa, operación del orden de la hipertextualidad, aborda el caso objeto de estudio (El film "La lengua de las mariposas) para describir analíticamente cómo está configurado el discurso narrativo hipertextual en la película y cuáles son los vínculos explícitos e implícitos que actúan como conectores entre los hipotextos, es decir, los tres cuentos en los que se basa la adaptación. En una tercera
parte se aborda la noción de universos narrativos como categoría contenedora y clave al momento del proceso de adaptación. Por último, se presentan las conclusiones y posibles líneas de investigación que deriven en estudios que continúen la pregunta por la reescritura y la hipertextualidad en producciones estéticas contemporáneas, como las
generadas por usuarios y fanáticos, y las industrias mediáticas, en lo que hoy se denomina cultura de convergencia (Jenkins, 2008); verbigracia, las parodias, mashups, series para web o juegos de video.

Video games, as a visual medium, have been steadily advancing in their depictions of cityscapes and architecture. Post-apocalyptic games, such as Valve’s Half-Life and Left 4 Dead series, are most notable for their realistic depictions of these spaces, but 2K Games’ 2007 release Bioshock takes dystopian architecture in games to a whole new level. Set up as an antithesis to Ayn Rand’s objectivism, Bioshock calls into question the existence of free will and honesty of a free market. And Rapture, as the setting upon which the game is set, echoes those sentiments completely. A city built underwater as a way to escape ever increasing government regulations, Rapture is a character in and of itself. The blocked air locks and systems of vacuum tubes connecting the different parts of the city represent the very moral ambiguity which is the basis for the narrative; a place meant to represent freedom and paradise is crumbling at the hands of its own inhabitants. As the game progresses and the narrative becomes increasingly savage and dystopian, so, too, does Rapture. It is both parallel and prison to the player, and it is ever so beautiful.

El arte de portada de este libro extraordinario, en la traza expansiva del ilustrador histórico de Beatriz Viterbo Editora, Daniel García, consigna los desbordes de las poéticas barriales que Carolina Rolle investiga en Buenos Aires transmedial. La aproximación de Rolle a las narrativas de Fabián Casas, Juan Diego Incardona y Washington Cucurto replantea una pregunta persistente sobre los emplazamientos del imaginario urbano en la literatura argentina. En las ficciones disyuntivas del colapso neoliberal de 2001, Rolle descubre una reconfiguración mayor del espacio literario y sus principios de inmanencia, cuya fractura o dislocación también pone en juego el devenir mismo de la interpretación literaria. En la encrucijada global de estos barrios transmediales, Rolle explora los registros sensoriales y afectivos de una literatura alterada por las nuevas tecnologías y medios; geografías donde la ficción no cesa de interrogar los modos de subjetivación y pertenencia. De ahí se desprende la energía que impulsa la cartografía urbana de Rolle en esta investigación de las nuevas formas de vida y los sujetos que pueblan las ficciones transmediales.  Julio Ramos

Dlaczego w dziesięć lat po rozpoczęciu rekordowej zbiórki na realizację gry Squadron 42, opiewającej na ponad dwieście milionów dolarów, powstała nie gra, lecz skomplikowany świat Star Citizen, nazywany przez twórcę pierwszoosobowym uniwersum (first-person universe)? Jak to się dzieje, że znając fabułę siedmioksięgu Harry Potter lub pamiętając większość odcinków Gry o tron, decydujemy się i tak powracać do kreowanych w nich światów kosztem ponownego przyswajania dobrze już zapoznanych historii? Dlaczego w niespełna dziesięć lat powstało gigantyczne Marvel Cinematic Universe, podczas gdy pięć razy więcej czasu zajęło sfilmowanie dotychczasowych przygód Jamesa Bonda? Wreszcie, czym różni się opowiadanie historii światotwórczych i imersywnych od tych angażujących tylko ze względu na porywającą fabułę i celne portrety psychologiczne postaci? Książka Światotwórstwo w fantastyce, będąca drugą na świecie (po Building Imaginary Worlds Marka J.P. Wolfa) i pierwszą w Polsce teoretyczną monografią sztuki światotwórczej, odpowiada na wszystkie te pytania, adresując równocześnie te kwestie, które pomijane były dotychczas w polskich i światowych badaniach nad fantastyką i kulturą popularną.

Monografia opatrzona jest również słownikiem zbierającym całość opracowanej przez autora terminologii z zakresu badań nad światotwórstwem.

This article explores new forms of serial structure found in transmedia story worlds, with particular attention to the innovations of amateur transmedia works.  Although the term transmedia has most often been associated only with corporate media at the center, taking amateur works as the paradigmatic example produces new insights into the affordances of digital technology, beyond the industry’s limitations, namely how transmedia creativity can function in the absence of the need to remain marketable, to maintain a coherent brand, and to work within a corporate family of conglomerated media companies.  This study thereby focuses on fan fiction, art, and “vids”, a form of remix video collage, to demonstrate how contemporary amateur production interacts with professional content, but also produces its own type of complex narration through unique forms, aesthetics, and story structures, likewise encouraging alternate reception practices as a result.  This article identifies at least three types of transmedial seriality elucidated by studying amateur fan media.  First, fan works emphasize the increasingly complex nature of seriality in all transmedia and the way in which serial effects do not vanish, but increasingly depend upon the viewer’s choices. Secondly, fan works create their own kind of flexible and multiple serial effects wherein meaning does not depend on consuming a specific sequence of narratives, but instead upon reading any collection of narratives within larger cycles or tropes to assemble a sense of flowing norms, genres, and preferences. Finally, fan works also uniquely analyze and reconfigure the serial effects of tropes found not only across the transmedia components of individual stories, but also across the breadth of popular culture. By remixing and reimagining repeated structures of representation, fan works often call attention to latent forms of seriality within popular culture as a collective whole.

Non mi sono avvicinato al video game storytelling da giocatore che ha deciso di dedicarsi a una propria passione. Character Develpoment and Storytelling for Games di Lee Sheldon parla della narrazione veicolata nei videogiochi. La lettura di quelle pagine ha fatto emergere in me il ricordo delle mie esperienze videoludiche di almeno una decina d’anni fa. A colpirmi è stata la rievocazione non soltanto del desiderio di mettermi a giocare, ma di quanto provavo allora. Non era raro che un “game over” mi facesse alterare tremendamente o che faticassi a darmi un limite temporale quando gli impegni lo consentivano. Ho presunto che ci fosse una grande potenza nel mezzo in questione il cui approfondimento avrebbe potuto mostrare dei risvolti non scontati.

Nel testo inizio trattando la narrazione transmediale ovvero come veicolare un contenuto (storia) attraverso diverse piattaforme (media).  La parte centrale esplora lo storytelling interattivo applicato ai videogiochi secondo Lee Sheldon. La terza parte analizza il caso videoludico, quasi senza necessità di presentazioni, di GTA V.

In this chapter, I analyze how Batman: Dark Tomorrow reflects changes in tie-in videogame production in the early 2000s and also prefigures the transmedia storytelling framework of the Arkhamverse franchise that began with Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009). While Batman: Dark Tomorrow anchored itself to the comic books, Batman: Arkham Asylum arrived in a different gaming landscape and consolidated elements from across the history of Batman media, including not just the comics but also the film and TV incarnations. Both games express how media franchises have turned to paratexts to sustain IP in between film releases, with Batman: Dark Tomorrow debuting before Batman Begins and Batman: Arkham Asylum arriving in between The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). After providing an overview of developments in scholarly and management approaches to transmedia storytelling, I examine how the Batman IP represents a complex web of multiple—sometimes intersecting, sometimes isolated—franchises. I then analyze the transmedia elements of Batman: Dark Tomorrow before concluding with an exploration as to why Batman: Arkham Asylum went on to receive a decidedly more enthusiastic response from critics and audiences. Together, these games demonstrate that efforts to implement transmedia storytelling in relation to Batman have proven challenging due to the IP’s multifranchisality. Based on a political economy of the media perspective and close readings of the games themselves, I argue that the difference in reception for Batman: Dark Tomorrow and Batman: Arkham Asylum lies in a combination of adaptation approaches and changes in managing media industry convergence.