Heterocosmica: Fiction and Possible Worlds

Noting that the traditional distinction between fiction and reality obscures an array of problems that have kept philosophers and literary critics in work for centuries, Dolezel (comparative literature, U. of Toronto) offers a complete theory of literary fiction based on the idea of possible worlds. He tests it on such writers as Defoe, Dickens, Dostoevsky, Huysman, Kafka, and Hemingway. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.