The Recalcitrants: Fantasy Worldbuilding and Storytelling as a Site of Religious Scholarship

Abstract

Fantasy, as a genre, creates a space where suspension of belief and removal from the familiar allow for unique forms of exploration. Having seldom encountered fantasy that takes advantage of this space to contemplate questions of religion, I began working on a semi-autobiographical New Adult fantasy novel about religious deconstruction and reconstruction. This project has been a process of worldbuilding, character creation, and deep personal reckoning, as I consider what makes a world, what makes a religion, and how fiction makes (and re-makes) us.