Possible worlds of fiction and history : the postmodern stage
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Possible worlds of fiction and history : the postmodern stage
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-164) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
With Possible Worlds of Fiction and History, Lubomir Dole el reexamines the claim-made first by Roland Barthes and then popularized by Hayden White-that "there is no fundamental distinction between fiction and history." Dole el rejects this assertion and demonstrates how literary and discourse theory can help the historian to restate the difference between fiction and history. He challenges scholars to reassess the postmodern viewpoint by reintroducing the idea of possible worlds. Possible-worlds semantics reveals that possible worlds of fiction and possible worlds of history differ in their origins, cultural functions, and structural and semantic features. Dole el's book is the first systematic application of this idea to the theory and philosophy of history. Possible Worlds of Fiction and History is the crowning work of one of literary theory's most engaged thinkers.
Table of Contents
Prefce
Introduction: Remarks on Postmodernism
1. The Postmodern Challenge
2. Representation of the Past and Possible Worlds
3. Postmodern Historical Worlds: Simon Schama
4. Postmodern Historical Fiction
5. Counterfactual Narratives of the Past
Notes
Works Cited
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"