Pdf possible worlds in recent literary theory marie. The course is organized around specific theoretical paradigms. The expressive power of the possible worlds theory in video games. These elements include literary theory, political theory, concepts of. The author extensively details, analyses and compares key concepts and strategies of fictional worlds theory.
Literary theory and schools of criticism introduction a very basic way of thinking about literary theory is that these ideas act as different lenses critics use to view and talk about art, literature, and even culture. In philosophy and logic, the concept of a possible world is used to express modal claims. Literary theory, literary criticism, and literary history are interrelated. I classical age plato plato was the first scholastic philosopher who had given a systematic shape to criticism. The proponents of each theory believe their theory is the theory, but most of us interpret texts according to the rules of several different theories at a time. When you hear the word theory, you might think first of the natural sciences, rather than of literature. Pdf possible worlds in recent literary theory marielaure ryan. Possible worlds in recent literary theory 529 philosophical belief that things might be otherwise than they are qtd. It introduces some important strategies for engaging with literary texts developed in the twentieth century, paying special attention to poststructuralist theories and their legacy. In this introductory textbook, joanna gavins sets out a usable framework for understanding mental representations. This book, then, is an introduction to both literary theory and a history of theory. A very short introduction is an exemplary work in this genre.
Hence, unpacked in terms of the abstractionists definitions, the possible world truth conditions for modal propositions are themselves irreducibly modal. Reading the identity of dramatis personae through the. Download possible worlds, artificial intelligence, and. This paper investigates the process of how concepts such as possible worlds, impossible worlds. From the 1960s onwards, fictional worlds were studied from a philosophical point of view, using possible worlds theory and modal logic, which consider the ontological status of fictional worlds, the nature of their functioning, and their relationship with the actual world.
A readers guide to contemporary literary theory 5th edition. The concept of possible worlds henceforth pw, loosely inspired by leibniz. By his time the glory of athenian art and literature began to fade and was taken. The concept of possible worlds, originally introduced in philosophical logic, has recently gained interdisciplinary influence.
To some extent, of course, we must maintain our theoretical differences in order to achieve our disparate goals and discoveries. A similar taxonomy of adaptations put forth by douglas lanier in shakespeare and modern popular culture is. The project gutenberg ebook of pragmatism, by william james this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. A critique of literary worlds in world literature theory. This text develops a comparative reading of the use of possible worlds in philosophy and in literary theory. Reproductions supplied by edrs are the best that can be.
Possible worlds theory and fictional worlds research. Pdf the expressive power of the possible worlds theory. The meaning of a literary work can be found in the minds of readers stockwell, 2002, p. Integrating rhetorical and literary theories of genre. A very short introduction jonathan culler has always been about the best person around at explaining literary theory without oversimplifying it or treating it with polemical bias.
On this score, as on many others, james fairhau provides convincing answers in james joyce and the question of history. Literary theory will have you questioning life in ways you never knew possible, from our cultural origins to our very notions of self. Can anyone recommend introductory material on literary theory and analysis of literary texts. At the core of the theory of possible worlds is the idea that reality forms a modal system. Literary theory and schools of criticism introduction. For ryan, the theory of possible worlds provides a more nuanced way of discussing the commonplace notion of a fictional world, while artificial intelligence contributes to narratology and the theory of fiction directly via its researches into the congnitive processes of texts and automatic story generation. What links here related changes upload file special pages permanent link page. Literary discourse brunner tells us in actual minds, possible worlds authors use at least three features of discourse to help the reader create meaning 1 triggering of presuppositions implicit vs explicit 2 depiction of reality through a characters consciousness 3. These different lenses allow critics to consider works of art based on certain assumptions within that school of theory. Narratives can and do make claims, not only about the world as it is, but as it. Pdf the expressive power of the possible worlds theory in video. An indepth discussion of different literary qualities and writing techniques used throughout the war of the worlds by h. This study substantially enriched literary theory by. Taxonomies of fictional possibilities have also been proposed where the likelihood of a fictional world is.
The most influential description of this system was developed by saul kripke and is known as an mmodel or model structure. It also includes a history of literary theory from the late nineteenth century to. Possible worlds, artificial intelligence, and narrative theory. Publication date 2007 topics literature, literary criticism, literary theory collection. Fiction theory scholars and critics have articulated various theses rooted in saul kripkes application of modal logic to semantics. Some little while after revising the second edition in 1989, raman prematurely and tragically died of a brain tumour. When possible worlds are seen as finite and furnished human constructs, the concept is brought. Text world theory is explained using naturally occurring texts and real situations, including literary works. She makes her argument quite clear at the top of page 6, saying that. From this groundwork, the theory of possible worlds became a central part of many. Fiction theory is a discipline that applies possible world theory to literature. Possible worlds in literary theory free download as pdf file. Andrew campbell this essay investigates the difficulties experienced by lecturers teaching contemporary literary theory to undergraduates.
Possible worlds in fiction lubomir dolezel claims that the concept of possible worlds resurrected by contemporary logic and analytic philosophy penetrated into the theoretical discourse of natural, social and human sciences. You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at. Possible worlds in the history of the novel poetics today duke. We now finally move to her criticism of identity politics. Possible worlds in literary theory literature, culture, theory ruth ronen on. Possible worlds stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Theoretical framework stylistics, as an academic discipline, is a method of linking linguistic form, via reader inference, to interpretation in a detailed way and thereby providing as. Text world theory is a cognitive model of all human discourse processing. By combining the philosophical background of possible world theory with models inspired by ai, the book fulfills a pressing need in narratology for new paradigms and an interdisciplinary perspective. The concept of possible worlds, originally introduced in philosophical logic, proves to be a productive tool when borrowed by literary theory to explain the notion of fictional worlds. Literary theory delves so deeply into the discovery of human nature that it not only describes various cultural effects, but also the effects on the notion of self. It would be better if it covers various approaches. This is a survey article on the significance of possible worlds theory for literary studies. The article analyzes the fictional worlds employed by literary historians with a tool grounded in possible worlds theory.
Possible worlds literary theory cambridge university press. Cambridge core literary theory possible worlds in literary theory by ruth ronen. Reality, imagination and possible worlds in american. Possible worlds theory and contemporary narratology on jstor. A sampling of critical lenses literary theories were developed as a means to understand the various ways people read texts. In this book ruth ronen develops a comparative reading of the use of possible worlds in philosophy and in literary theory, and offers an analysis of the way. Instructors are urged to provide explicit instruction in critical thinking, to teach how to transfer to new contexts, and to use cooperative or collaborative learning methods and constructivist approaches that place students at the center of the learning process. Pavel titled possible worlds in literary semantics appeared in the journal ofaesthetics and art criticism. Possible worlds, artificial intelligence, and narrative. Possibleworlds theory by marielaure ryan entry for the routledge encyclopedia of narrative theory the theory of possible worlds henceforth pw, a modern adaptation of a leibnizian concept, was originally developed by philosophers of the analytic school kripke, lewis, rescher, hintikka as a means to solve problems in formal semantics. The first, general part of the book is essentially determined by.
Lewis, 1986 has been used in literary studies and narratology dolezel. Literary worlds theory provides a richer and more relativistic account of how literary production and analysis work than do similar models such as franco morettis and pascale casanovas world literary systems. Developed by philosophers belonging to the anglosaxon school of analytic philosophy as a means to solve problems in formal semantics, pw theory was adapted. Drawing on concepts found in possible world theory, theorists of fiction study the relationships between textual worlds and the world outside the text. Possible worlds in literary theory literature, culture. Possible worlds in literary theory literature, culture, theory. In her view, literary theorists treat fictional worlds as possible worlds in the sense that fictional worlds are concrete constellations of states of affairs which, like possible worlds, are nonactualized in the world. Literary criticism and theory university of calicut. Export a ris file for endnote, procite, reference manager, zotero, mendeley export a text file for bibtex note. An introduction structuralism and semiotics 2 3 structuralism and semiotics we left american literary theory at the end of the introduction in the grip of new criticism, honing its increasingly sophisticated techniques and fighting a rearguard action against modern science and industrialism. Can anyone recommend introductory material on literary. Treating fictional narratives as possible worlds links literary theory to a dynamic interdisciplinary.