Empty Revelations: An Essay on Talk about, and Attitudes toward, Fiction - Hardcover

Alward, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773540385 ISBN 13: 9780773540385

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2012

Synopsis

What mysteries lie at the heart of fiction's power to enchant and engage the mind? Empty Revelations considers a number of philosophical problems that fiction raises, including the primary issue of how we can think and talk about things that do not exist. Peter Alward covers thought-provoking terrain, exploring fictional truth, the experience of being "caught up" in a story, and the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction. At the centre of Alward's argument is a figure known as the "narrative informant" who mediates the reader's encounter with fictional events through - sometimes unreliable - reporting. Developing a theory in which the author is a sculptor who constructs works of fiction out of words, Alward demonstrates that much of the confusion about fiction stems from a failure to properly distinguish between writing fiction and telling stories. Combining clarity, philosophical sophistication, ingenuity, and originality, Empty Revelations is a rewarding read for both scholars of philosophy and anyone interested in the complex ways that fiction works.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Alward is a Professor and Philosophy Department Head at the University of Saskatchewan. He is the author of one philosophical monograph, one text book, and more than 30 refereed articles and book chapters. He is also an amateur novelist who, after years of frustration with academic publishing, has decided to publish his fiction independently ... unless he gets an offer he can't refuse (i.e., any offer whatsoever).

Edition details

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0773540385
• ISBN 13: 9780773540385
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 216