Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T18:37:33.263Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“Never Land”: Where do imaginary worlds come from?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Sue Llewellyn Open the ORCID record for Sue Llewellyn [Opens in a new window]
Sue Llewellyn*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Humanities, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK sue.llewellyn@manchester.ac.ukhttps://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/researchers/susan-llewellyn(935188b6-d869-4122-bfce-be3d1bd72c9c).html
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We assume “Imaginary worlds” to be unreal and unfamiliar: high fantasy. I argue they are real and familiar to authors because they comprise memory elements, which blend experience, knowledge, beliefs and pre-occupations. These “bits and pieces” from memories can generate a world, which readers experience as pure imagination. I illustrate using J.M. Barrie's “Never Land” and J.R.R. Tolkien's “Middle-Earth.”

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e287
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrie, J. M. (1928). Peter Pan. Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Birkin, A. (2003). J.M. Barrie and the lost boys. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Boisvert, M. (2021). Home range size. Accessed 23rd September, 2021. Available at https://carta.anthropogeny.org/moca/topics/home-range-size.Google Scholar
Buckley, C. (2017). How Icelandic Norse mythology influenced Tolkien. Available at https://theculturetrip.com/europe/iceland/articles/how-icelandic-norse-mythology-influenced-tolkien/Google Scholar
Carpenter, H. (2014). JRR Tolkien: A biography. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Google Scholar
Chaney, L. (2006). Hide-and-seek with angels: A life of JM Barrie. Arrow Books.Google Scholar
Dudgeon, P. (2008). Captivated: JM Barrie, the du Mauriers and the dark side of Neverland. Chatto & Windus.Google Scholar
Harari, Y. (2014). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Harvill Secker.Google Scholar
Jahangir, R. (2014). The Hobbit: How England inspired Tolkien's Middle Earth. Available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29787528Google Scholar
Jakobsson, Á. (2019). Tolkien and his Medieval Icelandic models, part of a talk given at the 8th Omentieva Toltea, Reykjavík, 2 Aug 2019. Available at https://www.icelandicroots.com/post/tolkien-and-his-medieval-icelandic-modelsGoogle Scholar
Lane, A. (2014) Why J. M. Barrie created Peter Pan: The deep wounds that inspired the beloved children's character. The New Yorker, November 22. Available at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/11/22/lost-boysGoogle Scholar
Lee, E. S. (1966) A theory of migration, 12.Google Scholar
Llewellyn, S. (2020). What do dreams do? Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madsen, C. (1988). “Light from an invisible lamp: Natural religion in The Lord of the Rings,” Mythlore: A journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 14: No. 3, Article 9. Available at https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol14/iss3/9Google Scholar
Martinez, M. (2013). Is Middle-earth supposed to be Midgard? Available at https://middle-earth.xenite.org/is-middle-earth-supposed-to-be-midgard/Google Scholar
Perry, S. (2021). With a Da bin ich! Review of: Wilson, F. (2021) Burning Man: The Ascent of D.H. Lawrence, Bloomsbury. London Review of Books, 43(17), 23–26.Google Scholar
Powell, R. A. (2000). Animal home ranges and territories and home range estimators. Research Techniques in Animal Ecology: Controversies and Consequences, 1, 476.Google Scholar
Stamps, J. (1995). Motor learning and the value of familiar space. The American Naturalist, 146(1), 41–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar