Contemporary Readings in the Philosophy of Literature

by Davies, David; Matheson, Carl

• ISBN13: 9781551111773
• ISBN10: 1551111772
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-15
• Publisher: Broadview Pr

Summary

"The readings in this collection bring together some of the most important work in the philosophy of literature by philosophers such as Martha Nussbaum, John Searle, and David Lewis. The readings explore philosophical issues such as the nature of fiction, the status of the author, the act of interpretation, the role of the emotions in the act of reading, the aesthetic and moral value of literary works, and other topics central to the philosophy of literature."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

What is the philosophy of literature?
Ontology and categorization
The logical status of fictional discourse	p. 9
Fiction, fiction-making, and styles of fictionality	p. 22
The concept of fiction	p. 33
Interpretation and identity : can the work survive the world?	p. 47
Work and text	p. 52
The epistemology of reading
Truth in fiction	p. 83
The structure of stories	p. 99
Fictional truth and fictional authors	p. 107
The intentional fallacy	p. 121
Validity in interpretation	p. 136
Intention and interpretation	p. 139
Intentionalism in aesthetics	p. 151
Semantic intentions, utterance meaning, and work meaning	p. 167
The death of the author : an analytical autopsy	p. 182
Incompatible interpretations of art	p. 197
True interpretations	p. 211
Art interpretation	p. 217
Literary rationality	p. 237
Literature, imagination, and the emotions
Fearing fictions	p. 259
Fiction and the emotions	p. 279
The pleasures of tragedy	p. 297
The paradox of horror	p. 307
The values of literature
On the cognitive triviality of art	p. 333
Fiction and the growth of knowledge	p. 343
Literature, representation, and knowledge	p. 359
'Finely aware and richly responsible' : literature and the moral imagination	p. 377
Moderate moralism	p. 397
Imaginary gardens and real toads : on the ethics of basing fiction on real people	p. 413
Free speech	p. 424
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