Edward Wolf’s research examines the relationship between literary traditions and interactive narrative, with particular attention to heroic epic, fantasy literature, and Western role-playing games. Across these areas, his work is concerned with the ways stories construct worlds, organize time and space, shape character, and invite readers or players into imaginative participation.
Heroic Epic and Literary Tradition
A central area of Edward’s research is the heroic literature of the Old Norse and Old English traditions. His work considers the structures and values of heroic epic, including its treatment of time, memory, fate, character, and cultural inheritance.
He is particularly interested in the ways these narrative forms continue to influence later storytelling. Heroic archetypes, quests, monsters, inherited conflicts, and imagined pasts remain powerful elements in fantasy literature and contemporary role-playing games, where older traditions are not simply reproduced but transformed through new forms and media.
Fantasy, Narrative, and World-Building
Edward’s work on fantasy literature focuses on the creation of secondary worlds and on the relationship between narrative, imagination, and belief. He is interested in how fantasy texts establish coherent fictional worlds through language, history, geography, myth, and cultural memory.
This research also explores the importance of time and space in narrative experience. Concepts such as the chronotope provide a way of examining how fictional worlds are organized and how readers are positioned within them. Fantasy is therefore approached not simply as a genre, but as a form of world-making in which narrative structure and imaginative participation are closely connected.
Western Role-Playing Games and Interactive Narrative
A further strand of Edward’s research considers Western role-playing games as complex narrative environments. His work explores how these games combine authored stories with player choice, movement, exploration, and emergent experience.
Particular areas of interest include immersion, presence, temporality, spatial design, branching narrative, character development, and the relationship between narrative freedom and narrative structure. He is also interested in the ways WRPGs draw on literary traditions while developing forms of storytelling that depend on participation rather than reading alone.
Current Research
Edward’s current book project examines the Western role-playing game in dialogue with heroic epic and fantasy literature. Drawing on Bakhtinian approaches to time, space, and dialogism, the study considers how literary forms and traditions are transformed within interactive narrative.
The project explores the relationship between world-building, characterization, quest structures, temporal experience, player agency, and narrative presence, with particular attention to the ways players encounter and participate in fictional worlds.
