The Multiverse as Theory in Postmodern Speculative Fictional Narratives. London/New York: Routledge, 2024. Available here.
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his book offers the first studies on the contemporary influence of the parallel universes idea as a theoretical method in speculative fiction to explore different cultural, social, and philosophical issues.
Taking a cross-cultural approach, an international team of authors takes different literary and media text to engage with the multiverse from the point of view of “other worlds,” understanding it not as the appearance of another independent world, but as the collision of two or more different worlds into one of them. From this key finding, the multiverse encourages us to pay attention to the influence that fiction exerts on narratives and world-building, providing possible frameworks to rethink critical aspects of temporality, space, self, society, and culture in contemporary times.
This pioneering work will interest students and scholars working in the areas of media and cultural studies, comparative literature, popular culture studies, speculative fiction, and transmedia studies.
“This groundbreaking collection of scholarship marks the first systematic, comprehensive volume on the multiverse as theory, heralding the birth of a new interdisciplinary field. Studies address speculative texts and narrative across media from a rich variety of methodological perspectives to apprehend nothing less than the most expansive and ambitious construct of the human imagination – ‘other worlds.’ The global perspective renders insight into the multiverse as treated in texts from North and Latin America to Europe, Japan, and Africa. This book is essential reading for academic specialists, students, and fans alike, who can gain deeper appreciation for the complexity and social implications of this influential cultural form.”
David O. Dowling, PhD, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, The University of Iowa; Author of Podcast Journalism: The Promise and Perils of Audio Reporting (2024).
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“This excellent collection on theories of the multiverse explores fundamental questions about our world through the imaginative possibilities of alternatives to it. The focus is admirably broad: taking in science fiction, graphic novels, video games, and television to examine digital space, consciousness, parallel and other worlds, and the nature of reality in both its physical and its spiritual manifestations. Equally diverse are the authors brought together in conversation – revealing new voices from North and Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Carefully curated by its editors The Multiverse as Theory offers the first studies of the contemporary influence of multiverse thinking and its epistemic limits.”
Martin Willis, Professor, School of English, Communication and Philosophy, Cardiff University.
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“This book, edited by Cabrera Torrecilla and Sáez de Adana, brings together a series of fundamental contributions to understand the key role that the concept of multiverse plays in modern and postmodern fictional narratives.”
Gerardo Blumenkratz, Chair, Media & Communication Arts Department, City College of New York, City University of New York.and fragmented knowledge.”
What if a… Multiversity? Literatura y ciencia en la obra de Grant Morrison. Madrid: Ediciones Marmotilla, 2019. Available here.
The concept of the multiverse is one of the few that has been able to link what are traditionally referred to as the two cultures: the sciences and the arts. This book examines Grant Morrison’s The Multiversity to trace the overlaps between these two territories. The idea of multiverse has been developed in comics since 1961 with the publication of The Flash of Two Worlds, and has found its maximum expression in recent years with the construction of superhero multiverses. Grant Morrison’s work culminates this process of construction and Angélica Cabrera accurately analyzes it with precision in her book.
“There is no doubt that science is a wonderful builder of stories and that fiction is a highly effective mode of knowledge. The overlapping of territories is there, but few know how to see them as well as Angélica. I have no doubt that the reader of these pages will be doubly rewarded. And that is no mean feat in this world of epidermal and fragmented knowledge.”
José Manuel Trabado Cabado
Senior Lecturer IN Literary Theory at the University of León, Spain
Book Fair
What if a… Multiversity? Literatura y ciencia en la obra de Grant Morrison.
FICÓMICS BUAP, 19/07/2022.
Book Presentation
What if a… Multiversity? Literatura y ciencia en la obra de Grant Morrison.
Multicómic – Libros y Café, Mexico City, 12/02/2022.
Essay
The Multiversity de Grant Morrison. Cómo entender los universos paralelos en el cómic
Revista Replicante: Periodismo digital y cultura crítica, 1/4/2020.
Public Talk
Universos paralelos: El multiverso en el cómic
Centro Cultural Elena Garro, Mexico City, 20/2/2020.
Public Talk
Universos paralelos: El multiverso en el cómic
Biblioteca Pública de León, Spain, 21/5/2019.
