How literary worlds are shaped : a comparative poetics of literary imagination / Bo Pettersson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pettersson, Bo, 1953- author.

Series:

Narratologia ; 54.

Narratologia ; volume 54

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Comparative literature--Themes, motives.

Comparative literature.

Physical Description:

viii, 326 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter [2016]

Summary:

How Literary Worlds Are Shaped studies a wide variety of literature across cultures and ages. The main aims is to show that literature all over the world has for millennia employed an array of related themes and techniques. By its broad scope and detailed analysis, this volume offers the first extensive comparative account of the makings of literary worlds. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Imaginative World-Making 9

1.1 Imagine That... 9

1.2 Imagination in the Subjunctive Mood: From Mediation to Creation 11

1.3 Imagination as a Shared Frame of Mind 20

1.4 Bridging the Study of Imagination and Popular Imagination 28

1.5 Literary Imagination 33

2 The Imaginative Uses of Mimesis 41

2.1 Mimesis as a Basis for Literature 41

2.2 The Range of Mimesis: Literary Imagination as Real and Fantastic 50

2.3 On the Interrelation between Mimesis and Genre 62

3 Kinds of Unreliability 78

3.1 From Mimesis to Deception 78

3.2 Basic Features of Unreliability and How We Learn Them 83

3.3 Narratorial and Focal Unreliability: A Scale of Intentionality 88

3.4 Expositional and Combined: Exposition as Manipulation 96

4 The Shaping of Literary Worlds 110

4.1 The Imaginative Frame of Literary Imagination 110

4.2 Literary World-Making: The Basics 115

4.3 Modes and Themes 121

4.4 Examples of Literary World-Making 137

5 Key Combinations: Figures and Narratives 150

5.1 Figures versus Narratives, Figures into Narratives 150

5.2 From Metaphor to Narrative to Allegory 160

5.3 Extended Metaphors in Novels 168

6 Other Imaginative Inflections 175

6.1 Indirection in Fiction and Drama 176

6.2 Hypothetical Action in Poetry 185

6.3 Genres and Text Types, Their Hierarchies and Blends 198

7 How Literary Worlds Shape Us 208

7.1 Imagined Selves and Communities in Fiction and Beyond 208

7.2 Origins of the Modern Hero 213

7.3 The Literary Spark for a World War (or Two) 222

7.4 A Chinese Author at the Service of Ideology 228

8 Why Literature Matters 235

8.1 Benefit through Delight 235

8.2 A Sense of Wonder 242

9 Ten Reasons to Study and Teach Literary Worlds 253.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 278-315) and index.

ISBN:

9783110483475

3110483475

OCLC:

944475523