Possible Worlds Theory and Counterfactual Historical Fiction
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Beschreibung
“Riyukta Raghunath’s monograph offers a stimulating reappraisal of alternate history fiction. This cognitively informed approach, supported by thorough readings of counterfactual World War II novels, demonstrates the vitality of possible worlds-based theories of narrative.”
- Marco Caracciolo, Ghent University, Belgium
This book offers a comprehensive Possible Worlds framework with which to analyse counterfactual historical fiction. Counterfactual historical fiction is a literary genre that comprises narratives set in worlds whose histories run contrary to the history of our world, usually speculating on what would have happened had a significant historical event (such as a war) turned out differently. The author develops a systematic critical approach based on a customised model of Possible Worlds Theory supplemented by cognitive concepts that account for the different processes that readers go through when they read counterfactualhistorical fiction, a genre which relies heavily on pre-existing knowledge about history and culture. This book will be of interest to anyone working with Possible Worlds, including within the fields of philosophy, literary studies, stylistics, cognitive poetics, and narratology.
Riyukta Raghunath is a Lecturer in the English department at New College of the Humanities, UK.
This book offers a comprehensive Possible Worlds framework with which to analyse counterfactual historical fiction. Counterfactual historical fiction is a literary genre that comprises narratives set in worlds whose histories run contrary to the history of our world, usually speculating on what would have happened had a significant historical event (such as a war) turned out differently. The author develops a systematic critical approach based on a customised model of Possible Worlds Theory supplemented by cognitive concepts that account for the different processes that readers go through when they read counterfactual historical fiction, a genre which relies heavily on pre-existing knowledge about history and culture. This book will be of interest to anyone working with Possible Worlds, including within the fields of philosophy, literary studies, stylistics, cognitive poetics, and narratology.
Revises the Possible Worlds model to account for reader experience Theorises what readers do when they read a particular type of fiction Examines three case study examples of counterfactual historical fiction
Autor*in
Riyukta Raghunath
Themen in »Possible Worlds Theory and Counterfactual Historical Fiction«
alternative history cognitive poetics Fatherland The Sound of His Horn Making History reader knowledge worlds Transworld Identity Narrative Theory narratology Literary Theory
Stimmen zu »Possible Worlds Theory and Counterfactual Historical Fiction«
“Raghunath’s book should be of interest both to scholars of this particular genre and to theoreticians tracing continuities between multiple genres. … Possible Worlds Theory and Counterfactual Historical Fiction is a valuable update of Possible Worlds Theory, one which can potentially lead to useful literary analyses dealing with a much wider spectrum of fictional works – opening up the field of fictional semantics to the challenges of narrating alternative versions of the past and the future.” (Alexander Popov, Fantastika Journal, Vol. 6 (1), February, 2022)
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“Riyukta Raghunath’s monograph offers a stimulating reappraisal of alternate history fiction. This cognitively informed approach, supported by thorough readings of counterfactual World War II novels, demonstrates the vitality of possible worlds-based theories of narrative.”
- Marco Caracciolo, Ghent University, Belgium
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