Can fiction become fact? The fiction-to-fact transition in recent theories of fiction.(Author abstract)

From: Style | Date: December 22, 2006| Author: | Copyright information

The recent pragmatic-contextual theory of fiction entails the possibility of changes between fact and fiction over the course of time. It is also perhaps commonplace to state that this process can be reversed--that fictional texts may cease to be fictional. The question of generic fiction-to-fact transition, however, is rarely confronted in the theory of fiction. This essay investigates the generic expectations attached to texts that make a full-scale transition from fiction to nonfiction difficult, both culturally and psychologically. "Fiction" is understood here in a limited, pragmatic ...

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