H3SF - Humanities and Social Sciences and Speculative fiction : a North/South Comparison

DUMONT Alexandre est co-porteur du projet

Membres extérieurs au Ceped participant au projet

Cécile MEYNARD, Co-porteuse, Laboratoire Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur les Patrimoines Littéraires et Linguistiques (CIRPaLL) UFR LLSHS, Université d’Angers

Partenariats

• CIRPaLL, Université d’Angers · https://cirpall.univ-angers.fr/fr/i...

Résumé

The objective of this project is to examine the relationships that emerges between Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), and works of speculative fiction, such as utopia, dystopia, SF and fantasy, by employing a comparative approach.
Without taking sides in the debate on the blurring of boundaries between fiction and reality (Lavocat, 2016), we cannot ignore the fact that, due to the constant injection of major social issues into the former and the frequent use of themes, narrative patterns, and symbols by the latter, a circular relationship now seems to have been established between the two. We want to give our reflection a comparative dimension by comparing fiction from so-called “Western” countries with that of East Asia, but also to go beyond this classic divide (West/East) by exploring the circulation of speculative fiction between the Global North and the Global South. We will focus in particular on the issues addressed in these works of fiction, such as environmental change, power struggles, population displacement, and the challenges and modalities of procreation, as well as their staging and discourse.
The foundation of our reflective inquiry lies in a more restricted research project, based on a comparison between major modern literary models associated with coming-of-age novels (which refer to Bildung and self-transformation during the transition to adulthood) and contemporary dystopian fictions (which echoes the nagging questions of the crisis of democracy, the advent of unequal and totalitarian societies, class and generational conflicts in post-modern societies and refer to the empowerment. We have set ourselves the goal of understanding how three major American cycles of dystopian fiction for young adults that have enjoyed international success - The Hunger Games (2008-2010), The Maze Runner (2009-2011), and Divergent (2011-2013)—have turned adolescence, which rebels against the totalitarian system established by adults, into a new incarnation of this age of life, replacing the imaginary crisis/quest for identity (the subject of traditional coming-of-age stories). By taking up the major issues of the crisis of authority and transmission, freedom and equality, progress and science, and by rejecting all forms of adultism, these fictional worlds raise the fundamental question—one that is unique to global generations—of intergenerational conflict and the conditions for youth empowerment in contemporary societies that, through fiction, increasingly resemble dystopias.
By being fully active in maintaining the (dis)enchanted circle between fact and fiction, dystopias for young adults remind us, by virtue of the strong "dystopian realism" that characterizes the worlds they describe (Lawrence, 2020), how much our societies are confronted with the loss of the ideal of progress and a feeling of great regression (Geiselberger, 2017). These novels are imbued with this Zeitgeist ; they seduce the reader with their strong apotropaic value, projecting onto the future the fears of regression that seem to have taken hold of Western societies and replaced the hopes for progress that were once so central to the structuring of our imaginations (Bauman, 2017). For these reasons, these novels interest readers with their dual ability to anticipate what the future might look like and to meticulously analyze how undemocratic power is conquered and exercised, and on what foundations of human nature it is built. By warning young people about the risks of becoming subject to the unchallenged power of adults and being exploited for the smooth functioning of the social order imposed by the latter, these dystopias have an educational, even edifying value for their readers, teaching them about the virtues of democratic, free, egalitarian societies. In addition to serving as a cathartic outlet, these works of fiction fulfill an axiological and cognitive function, forcing readers to reflect on the principles underlying contemporary democratic societies by analyzing the workings of their decline.

Based on these analyses of representations of youth and, more broadly, of societies and their environment in these three dystopian cycles, we would like to broaden our discussion to include science-fiction and fantasy in literature, films, television series, comics, manga, and manhwa. How do these works of fiction depict modern and post-modern human societies in an environment that they themselves have helped to shape ? How are individuals and human groups portrayed and what is their place in these often post-apocalyptic worlds ?
In attempting to answer these questions, we aim to understand the links between fictional worlds and social realities (so called « actual » or « real world »). These works of fiction, which speak of an “elsewhere” and/or a “tomorrow,” are indeed sounding boards for contemporary issues in the political, technological, scientific, economic, social, environmental, and cultural spheres. These fictional “possible worlds” (Doležel, 2010) can turn into “potential worlds” for their readers (Moylan, 2020). An understanding of how these fictional worlds are experienced and imagined by literature “may also tell us something about the way in which we form a mental image of the world we live in, and the way we experience it and see our own lives intersecting with it » (Wolf, 2012, 15). “In creating new forms of ‘common sense’ about politics, YA fiction is also creating ‘self-fulfilling prophecies’ of youth peacebuilding” (McEvoy-Levy, 2018, 6). It is therefore necessary to study more closely how young people use and appropriate this fiction to criticize the world in which they live today and express their hopes for an enduring peace. In other words, do these dystopian worlds help audiences to brave the new world by providing them with arguments to defend and improve what is best in their own world ?
To this end, we plan to set up a scientific network. Collaborations with researchers and partnerships with institutions at the local/national and international levels will be enhanced.

Mots-Clés

Utopia, Dystopia, Fictional Worlds, Young Adults Novels, Fantasy, SF.

Zones géographiques

North America, Latin America, East Asia

Calendrier

• Début du projet : September 2025
• Fin du projet : September 2028

Contact

• Courriel : vincenzo.cicchelli chez ceped.org
• Téléphone : +33601941256

Résultats et valorisation

Journées d’études
We will organize scientific events (seminars, study days, workshops, symposia), starting with a series of meetings and conferences (virtual and in-person) at MSH Paris Nord in 2025-2026.

Colloques

• March 31, 2025 (keynote address, conference “Young People Shaping The Future,” organized by Paola Maria Torrioni, Università di Torino) ;
• July 11, 2025, as part of the ISA Forum in Rabat, “Knowing Justice In The Anthropocene” (presentation in a workshop entitled “Literature, conflict and social relations”) : “In quest for justice : generational and social conflicts in three contemporary dystopian novels for young adults”

Médias

à venir

Publications

• An article for Aura Journal as part of the special issue : “Other worlds across literary and media landscape” (https://www.aurarivista.it/avvisi/cfp-the-call-of-other-worlds-across-literary-and-media-landscape/)
• Our proposed abstract entitled "Braving a New World ? Young people facing an adult-shaped universe in The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner and Divergent" has been accepted (article to be submitted by September 15, 2025)
• A monograph entitled “Growing up in a Dystopia : The Empowerment in Young Adult Fictions” (manuscript to be submitted by June 2026)