|
The Wold Newton family is a literary concept derived from a form of crossover fiction developed by the American science fiction writer Philip José Farmer. Farmer suggested in two fictional biographies (''Tarzan Alive'' and ''Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life'') that the Wold Cottage meteorite, which fell near Wold Newton, Yorkshire, England, on December 13, 1795, was radioactive and caused genetic mutations in the occupants of a passing coach. Many of their descendants were thus endowed with extremely high intelligence and strength, as well as an exceptional capacity and drive to perform good or, as the case may be, evil deeds. The progeny of these travellers are purported to have been the real-life originals of fictionalised characters, both heroic and villainous, over the last few hundred years, such as Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Doc Savage, and Lord Peter Wimsey. Other popular characters included by Farmer as members of the Wold Newton family are Solomon Kane; Captain Blood; The Scarlet Pimpernel; Sherlock Holmes's nemesis Professor Moriarty; Phileas Fogg; The Time Traveller (main character of ''The Time Machine'' by H. G. Wells); Allan Quatermain; A. J. Raffles; Professor Challenger; Richard Hannay; Bulldog Drummond; the evil Fu Manchu and his adversary, Sir Denis Nayland Smith; G-8; The Shadow; Sam Spade; Doc Savage's cousin Patricia Savage and one of his five assistants, Monk Mayfair; The Spider; Nero Wolfe; Mr. Moto; The Avenger; Philip Marlowe; James Bond; Lew Archer; Travis McGee; Monsieur Lecoq; and Arsène Lupin. ==The Wold Newton Universe== The Wold Newton Universe (or WNU) is a term coined by Win Scott Eckert to denote an expansion of Philip José Farmer's original Wold Newton Family concept (introduced in ''Tarzan Alive'' ()). Eckert introduced the term in 1997 on his website, ''An Expansion of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Universe''. Eckert and others use Farmer's concept of the Wold Newton Family as a unifying device and expands the universe that the Wold Newton Family inhabits by: including essays in the vein of the Sherlockian "Game," in which theories are proposed and supported by supplying contextual background information and persuasive argument; by writing fiction authorized by Farmer and Farmer's Estate which adds elements and characters to the Wold Newton Family and/or the WNU; by writing other fiction which contains "Easter egg" references to the Wold Newton Family or the WNU, or which otherwise expands the overall mythos; and by documenting crossovers between fictional characters from various media and genres. Characters incorporated into the WNU are not necessarily blood relatives, descendants, or ancestors of the coach travelers present at the 1795 Wold Cottage meteor strike, but these characters all exist in the same shared fictional universe. Farmer himself penned a number of stories and novels set in what is now termed the Wold Newton Universe; not all characters in Farmer's Wold Newton fiction are core members of the Wold Newton Family, but all are linked into the larger WNU via connections with Farmer's primary Wold Newton Family works, ''Tarzan Alive'' and ''Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life''.〔(Win Scott Eckert's ''Wold Newton Universe'' website ). Accessed January 18, 2008〕 Eckert and other post-Farmerian authors—admirers of Farmer's Wold Newton biographies and fiction who write in Eckert’s vein—have published numerous further fictional characters in many literary styles and media, including works emulating the aesthetics of the Renaissance, Romantic and Victorian eras; such subgenres of prose fiction as Gothic and steampunk; the fairy tale, mythology and folklore categories of traditional stories; publication formats like the graphic novel, the comic book, the pulp magazine and the penny dreadful; and the non-print media of motion pictures, television shows, radio programs and video games. The expanded WNU is documented documented in articles by WNU experts on the various WNU-themed websites; in ''Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Universe'' (edited by Win Scott Eckert, MonkeyBrain Books, 2005, a 2007 Locus Award finalist); in various issues of ''Farmerphile: The Magazine of Philip José Farmer'', the prozine dedicated to and authorized by Farmer and published by Michael Croteau, webmaster of the Official Philip José Farmer Home Page (); and in various stories, novellas, and novels authorized by Farmer or by Farmer's Estate, such as ''Tales of the Wold Newton Universe'' (edited by Win Scott Eckert and Christopher Paul Carey, Titan Books, 2013) and various books published by Meteor House.〔(Meteor House: Our Books ). Accessed August 21, 2015〕 Going beyond the WNU is Eckert's ''Crossover Universe,'' published in book form by Black Coat Press in two volumes in 2010 as ''Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World,'' in which a massive continuity is created in a "six degrees" game of linked crossover stories. Eckert's ''Crossover Universe'' work is being carried forward by Sean Levin.〔(The Crossover Universe ). Accessed August 21, 2015〕 The important distinction between a Wold Newton story and a crossover story is discussed at length by Eckert and Carey in their introduction to ''Tales of the Wold Newton Universe.'' Many post-Farmerian experts have attempted to expand the Wold Newton Universe by including characters of their liking into the WNU and often into the Wold Newton family proper. Among these attempted expansions is introducing comic book superheroes and supervillains whose published exploits, by their very nature, often prove difficult to reconcile with Farmer's original framework. But WNU’s root conceit has always been that characters known by the reader as fictional actually lived or are yet living, with their adventures based on true events embroidered by the genre authors who serve as their "biographers." Therefore, in order for aspects of larger fictional universes to adhere to WNU’s overall continuity and believability, certain accounts of these new characters' lives have been labeled as a distortion of actual events or dismissed as complete fabrication. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wold Newton family」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|