Literature is a source of understanding and insight into the human condition. Yet ever since Aristotle, philosophers have struggled to provide a plausible account of how this can be the case. For surely the fictionality, the sheer invented character, of the literary work means that literature concerns itself not with the real world but with other worlds — what are commonly called fictional worlds. How is it, then, that fictions can tell us something of consequence about reality? This book offers a novel and intriguing account of the relationship between literature and life, and shows that lite ... More

Literature is a source of understanding and insight into the human condition. Yet ever since Aristotle, philosophers have struggled to provide a plausible account of how this can be the case. For surely the fictionality, the sheer invented character, of the literary work means that literature concerns itself not with the real world but with other worlds — what are commonly called fictional worlds. How is it, then, that fictions can tell us something of consequence about reality? This book offers a novel and intriguing account of the relationship between literature and life, and shows that literature's great cultural and cognitive value is inseparable from its fictionality and inventiveness.