Fiction and Narrative

Anna Christina Ribeiro, The Philosophical Quarterly An excellent, ambitious book, there is no doubt that Fiction and Narrative Narrative will make many of us think a little harder about these two pesky categories.

Peter Lamarque, Mind ... philosophising about fiction will take a huge jolt from Matravers' book. It challenges some fundamental assumptions and is rich in careful, probing argument. No one in the field can afford to ignore it. It is original, hard-hitting and will awaken many of us from our dogmatic slumber.

Sarah Worth, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism This book is a total game changer for anyone interested in the philosophy of fiction, aesthetics, and narrative ... a natural next step in the genealogy of our explanations about our engagement with fiction as well as an excellent theoretical framework for making sense of fiction, nonfiction, and understanding narrative ... Although Walton, Currie, and Lamarque and Olsen have commented on their critics for the past 25 years, I believe that Matravers has posed the most significant challenge to the consensus view since Walton's Mimesis as Make-Believe

Jukka Mikkonen, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Fiction and Narrative is a concise work that consists of short chapters tightly packed with arguments; yet, it manages to do a lot. In addition to providing an intriguing theoretical reorientation, the book has substantial value in clarifying (and questioning) recent debates around fiction

After taking Philosophy for his first degree at University College London, Derek Matravers went on to complete his doctorate at Cambridge. He was a Post-Doctoral Lecturer at Cambridge, before moving to the Open University in 1994 where he is now Professor. He continues his links with Cambridge, where he is a Senior Member of Darwin College. He has published extensively on aesthetics, and to a lesser extent on ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of mind.

1. Introduction ; 2. Walton on Fiction ; 3. Fiction and the Imagination ; 4. The Real Distinction ; 5. Understanding Narratives ; 6. Engaging with Narratives ; 7. Narrative and Belief ; 8. The (so-called) Paradox of Fiction ; 9. Narrators, Impossible Fictions, and the 'Fictionality Puzzle' ; 10. Coda: Film