Alternate Worlds in Postmodern Fiction

One of the key features that marks the fiction of the postmodern era is the subverting of age old traditions and beliefs. This is most commonly done by proposing the existence of multiple realities. This trend has also given rise to what is now being called the transrealist movement. Transrealism is one of the major literary movements of the 21st century, that emerged by blurring the boundary between fantasy and reality. Many writers have written fiction about alternative worlds; Neil Gaiman is one of them. The study analysed three ¿alternate world¿ novels namely; Coraline, The Graveyard Book,and Neverwhere by Gaiman as transreal works that address multiple audiences on social issues. The research examined the social impact of the selected works across three genres of children, young adult and adult fiction, by employing a theoretical model based on Rucker¿s Transrealist Manifesto, and Poststructuralist theories of Derrida and Lyotard.The analyses revealed that the selected works of Gaiman with ¿alternate worlds¿ have transreal elements and satirize social reality of the world by presenting an alternate reality.