French Literature Reviews - 2026
Uses and Theories of Fiction: The Contemporary Debate Tested by Ancient Texts
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
Uses and Theories of Fiction: The Contemporary Debate Tested by Ancient Texts (16th–18th Centuries)
Author(s): Various Authors, Françoise Lavocat
Publisher: PU RENNES
Series: INTERFERENCES
Published on: 02/12/2004
ISBN: 2-7535-0005-3
259 pages / 0.415 kg
Abstract
Are contemporary theories of fiction, forged from nineteenth- and twentieth-century novelistic examples, relevant to older texts? The contributors to this volume examine the concepts of "immersion," "shared playful pretense," and "possible world" by applying them to texts from a period for which they were not originally conceived. The study first seeks to define the essence of literary fiction through an interdisciplinary perspective (incorporating linguistics and law): what is known as "legal fiction" emerges as fundamentally distinct from literary fiction. Contemporary theories of fiction are then contrasted with those developed by Renaissance poetics, precisely when the concept of the specific nature of literary fiction first became thinkable. Emphasis is also placed on how the mechanics of fiction (its pleasures and perils) are represented within the texts themselves. Finally, the investigation explores the markers of fictionality specific to this period (such as the first-person perspective and paradox), as well as the relationships between fiction and the anthropology of the passions, and between fiction and argumentation.
Biography
Françoise Lavocat is a Professor of Comparative Literature at Paris 7 Denis Diderot University and a member of the Institut Universitaire de France. Her notable publications include Arcadies malheureuses, aux origines du roman moderne (Champion, 1999), La syrinx au bûcher, Pan et les satyres à la Renaissance et à l'âge baroque (Oroz, 2004), and, co-authored with François Lecerf, Dramaturgies de l'ambre (P.U.R., 2004). She heads the C.L.A.M. research center (Centre de recherches comparatistes sur les littératures anciennes et modernes), which originated the present work.
The volume addresses the applicability of modern theoretical frameworks—such as immersion, shared playful pretense, and possible worlds—to earlier literary production. By testing concepts developed largely from nineteenth- and twentieth-century novels against texts from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, the contributors examine whether these critical tools remain functional across historical shifts in aesthetic production. The collection also investigates the distinctions between literary fiction and other discursive modes, including legal fiction, while considering the historical emergence of specific markers of fictionality during the early modern period.
Readers interested in the intersections between historical poetics, comparative literature, and the philosophical status of narrative may find this collection relevant. The volume engages with Renaissance poetics, the anthropology of the passions, and the relationships between storytelling and argumentation. Françoise Lavocat leads the research center that originated the work, bringing together diverse perspectives from linguistics, law, and literary history to examine how earlier texts represent the mechanics, pleasures, and perils of fiction.