Shona Golpo Lekha Golpo

Proceedings of the European Society for Aesthetics, 2023

In this paper, I shall argue for the representational character of literary fiction. The aim is not to defend a theory of fiction as representation but to highlight the iconic or experiential nature of literary fiction. Drawing mainly on Beardsley (1981, 1982) and Matravers (2014), I shall outline a notion of representation that helps to make sense of literary fiction as a specific kind of representation or verbal depiction. Literary language gives presence, vitality, and force to the represented world, but verbal representation like visual representation requires the imaginative collaboration of the reader. In addition to grasping the linguistic meaning of the text, the reader must make sense of the actions and attitudes of the characters and consider them, together with situations and events from the author’s point of view. Imaginative collaboration involves more than adopting a propositional attitude of make-believe toward the sentences’ content. It also encompasses mental activities such as visualising, empathising, responding emotionally, and entertaining expectations and desires in response to the represented content. As it is often defended, it is in the reader’s experience that the world of a novel comes into existence. This is not to say that the reader creates the work; rather in understanding a literary work, the reader’s experience is closely tied to the mode of presentation and perspective of the work.

2010

2000

MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S., 2012

2020

A significant strand in the view of literature has always has been the moral approach. It became translated in literary evaluation in the West from Plato's virtue-based conception of life and Aristotle's 'high intention' and finding affirmation by writers like Matthew Arnold, D. H. Lawrence and their view that poetry that is indifferent to moral ideas is indifferent to life, and critics of the stature of F.R. Leavis with his argument of the moral force of literature. The moral imperative has not become altogether eclipsed as evident from the works of postmodern writer Nobel Laureate, Gabriel Marquez though magic and imagination attract the most attention in his books. In terms of scholarship on the same subject, Nora Hamalainen's book Literature and Moral Theory (2015) establishes why we need literature, and how moral vision is still alive in contemporary thinking. The term literature in this paper is used to mean broadly fiction that includes novels, short stori...

Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 2007

Fiction as Method, 2017

See the world through the eyes of a search engine, if only for a millisecond; throw the workings of power into sharper relief by any media necessary; reveal access points to other worlds within our own. In the anthology Fiction as Method, a mixture of new and established names in the fields of contemporary art, media theory, philosophy, and speculative fiction explore the diverse ways fiction manifests, and provide insights into subjects ranging from the hive mind of the art collective 0rphan Drift to the protocols of online self-presentation. With an extended introduction by the editors, the book invites reflection on how fictions proliferate, take on flesh, and are carried by a wide variety of mediums—including, but not limited to, the written word. In each case, fiction is bound up with the production and modulation of desire, the enfolding of matter and meaning, and the blending of practices that cast the existing world in a new light with those that participate in the creation of new openings of the possible.

Literature and life has an interconnection that cannot be broken. Literature is a reflection of life as a portrayal of the brilliance of a literary artist. The literary artist can structure the society with her/his genius literary technique, as the excellence of the literary work evolves in the mind. The personality and ideas of the writer echo in her/his writings. The philosophies portrayed amaze the society of all times, thus leaving an imprint on the minds of the readers with her/his varied thoughts. Thus, literature is relevant at all times, growing into a treasure house of learning that has examples for all walks of life and always shines bright as a guiding light. Literature is a mixture of real and imaginary characters and societies, which function to establish an ideal and moral world. Keats designed his own imaginary world, whereas Wordsworth' s discourses approve that he is a worshiper of nature. One common aspect of all the great masters of literature was that all were touched by human suffering. Bacon, John Milton, William Shakespeare, John Keats, Shelley, Valmiki, Kalidas and Socrates have always been motivated to sympathize with the pathetic state-of-affairs of human life in their respective era. Accordingly, literature intellectually and emotionally educates man through various languages. In conclusion, life is literature and literature is life.

SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH

Stories have been the source of moral lessons and entertainment, as far as the humankind of all the time, is concerned. The use of story- telling existed from the time immemorial. Stories appeared in the form of ballads and epics, in the ancient time, but later it took the shape of short and long fictions. The long fictions or novels varied in its theme and size. They are divided into many genres according to its subject matter- Gothic, Picaresque, Historical etc. The Ballad is nothing but a short story in verse. Its subjects are simple and memorable like adventure, love, war and the life etc. An Epic is a long tale in verse with famous heroes for its main characters. Iliad and Odyssey are examples. These stories gave the reader enjoyment and certain life-related ‘tips’. Hayden White, an American historian says, “the aim of the writer of a novel must be the same as that of the writer of the history”. Historians and Novelists wish to provide a verbal image of ‘reality’. A novelist ma...

2015