Fiction

In the second chapter of Marie-Laure Ryan’s Avatars of Story, one particular quote in the introductory paragraph caught my attention: “…fiction differs from other modes of virtual thinking in that it contemplates the virtual for its own sake, rather than using it as an instrument to shape the real.” This concept of “virtual thinking” is intriguing because it introduces the idea that one has the “ability to detach thought from what exists and to conduct mental experiments about what could be or what could have been” but also because, for me, the terms ‘virtual’ and ‘thinki
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While defining for myself what fiction and untrue stories are, I was reminded of Beowulf and oral tradition. Or rather, the way that men used (and still do) to tell each other stories of their bravery and strength that could never really have happened. It is a huge part of culture to tell each other stories, from fairy tales to ghost stories. Today we have the National Enquirer and tabloids to tell us about cheese sandwiches that have the Virgin Mary on them and the screwed up love lives of the rich an famous.
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In the second chapter of Marie-Laure Ryan’s book Avatars of Story, she defines fiction and nonfactual thinking in relation to narrative. She explains that fiction must at the very least offer an “embryonic story,” or a story that decribes a particular world. Ryan’s definitions of fiction and what is fictional got me thinking about reality in general. What defines something as fiction really? How do we know that something is actually fiction just because we haven’t experienced it?
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