Fiction and the Weave of Life

By John Gibson

Book Overview

Literature is a source of understanding and insight into the human condition. Yet ever since Aristotle, philosophers have struggled to provide a plausible account of how this can be the case. For surely the fictionality - the sheer invented character - of the literary work means that literature concerns itself not with the real world but with other worlds - what are commonly called fictional worlds. How is it, then, that fictions can tell us something of consequence about reality? In Fiction and the Weave of Life, John Gibson offers a novel and intriguing account of the relationship between literature and life, and shows that literature's great cultural and cognitive value is inseparable from its fictionality and inventiveness.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199642575
• ISBN13: 9780199642571
• Release Date: February 2012
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"