Introduction to Parallel Dimensions Studies
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madness and death—all recurrent narrative motifs of the fantastic mode—
naturally point to the existence of unknown dimensions, for these are three
domains of human consciousness which remain epistemologically out of
bounds; in the fantastic narrative multiverse, dreams materialize, madness might
be sanity and death is not necessarily the end, as if the entire mode were
fundamentally dedicated to probe the limits of our dimension in Order to suggest
the existence of another.
The success of imaginary parallel dimensions can be measured by their
influence upon the construction of our own cultural reality; if religious practices
illustrate the most obvious and intemalized connections between imaginary
parallel dimensions and the construction of our historical and cultural reality,
secular narrative and linguistic parallel dimensions have as well a profound
influence on our consciousness. For instance, upon its publication in 1774,
Goethe’s first novel, The Sorrows o f Young Werther is rumored to have
provoked an epidemic of suicides among its readership, as the post-adolescent
German youth fully identified with the unfortunate Werther and imitated him
further than just by downing identical attires and feeling desperately and
hopelessly in love. More recently, the movie Juno, which teils the story of a
somewhat sunny teenage pregnancy, has been held responsible for inspiring a
String of voluntary pregnancies in a Massachusetts high-school. Whether a
specific, quantifiable relationship between the film and these young ladies’
behavior remains impossible to determine—just as between violent action films
and violence in the streets23—the connection between reality and imaginary
parallel dimensions is, on the other hand, hard to miss.
The ferocious product placement practices that plague most of today’s
important cinematic events are perhaps the most material signs of the influence
narrative parallel dimension have upon our collective consciousness, for they
represent major Capital investments on the part of corporations apparently
deprived of imagination that must resolve to infect imaginary parallel
dimensions with the marks of their merchandise in order to produce benefits in
the real world, offen endangering the semiotic integrity of the narration in the
process—even James Bond 007 has been forced to drink beer. The literary
multiverse has become a great—if not the greatest—display case for modern
distribution, demonstrating that the influence parallel dimensions have upon
human perception and behavior has become pervasive enough to be quantified
in terms of investments and revenues.
As we can see, the literary multiverse, which was