Overview
- 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
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About this book
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.
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Keywords
Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“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) “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
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Riyukta Raghunath is a Lecturer in the English department at New College of the Humanities, UK.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Possible Worlds Theory and Counterfactual Historical Fiction
Authors: Riyukta Raghunath
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53452-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-53451-6Published: 11 September 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-53454-7Published: 12 September 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-53452-3Published: 10 September 2020
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 224
Number of Illustrations: 20 b/w illustrations, 8 illustrations in colour
Topics: Cognitive Linguistics, Fiction, Stylistics, History of World War II and the Holocaust