anti-geography
Robert Appelbaum wrote an interesting essay in Early Modern Literary Studies on "Anti-geography": "... anti-geographical fantasy has become a vehicle of self-conscious intellectual play, where one cannot only exercise the imagination but also ruminate on the values of European culture. ... anti-geographical fantasy becomes a critical tool for reflecting on one's own condition and exploring or indeed inventing new sets of values and conditions--beyond onself". In other words, besides inventing geographical faraway lands our capacity of imagination stretches out to build up a new system of living. Being a curious toddler that I am by inspecting blatant aspects of the world, here are some of the questions that sprung out of my mind--
1) Are fantasies a tool for reflecting on one's own condition, or rather reflecting on the need for fantasies in early modern society in the first place? Can merely playful and comic fantasies be taken as a basis for accurate reflection?
2) How far can one (by that I mean someone who has never left his/her birthplace) go to reach beyond?
3) Why do people want/need to create new values?