Possible Worlds Theory and Counterfactual Historical Fiction

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

Autorentext

Riyukta Raghunath is a Lecturer in the English department at New College of the Humanities, UK.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Introduction: The Genre of Counterfactual Historical Fiction.- Chapter 2: Possible Worlds Theory: History, Approaches, and its Relevance to Counterfactual Historical Fiction.- Chapter 3: New Additions to Possible Worlds Theory: Reader Knowledge Worlds, Ontological Superimposition, and Reciprocal Feedback.- Chapter 4: Redefining Counterpart Theory and Transworld Identity.- Chapter 5: The Complex and Mixed Ontology of Fatherland.- Chapter 6: The Dystopian Counterfactual World and Unreliable Narration in The Sound of his Horn.- Chapter 7: Multiple Textual Actual Worlds and Contradictions in Making History.- Chapter 8: Conclusion and Future Recommendations.