Peter Lamarque is professor of philosophy at the University of York, UK. His many publications include Work and Object: Explorations in the Metaphysics of Art (OUP, 2010), The Philosophy of Literature (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008), Fictional Points of View (Cornell University Press, 1996), and Truth, Fiction and Literature: A Philosophical Perspective (with Stein Haugom Olsen, Clarendon Press, 1994). He was Editor of the British Journal of Aesthetics from 1995 to 2008.

In this book, Peter Lamarque brings his distinctive views about fiction and literature to the related but different topic of narrative. Narratives, especially but not only literary ones, are not windows through which we look at the actual or possible worlds, but opaque constructions we must look into to discover not just what is represented but the way it is represented. Taking this basic idea and applying it to both longstanding and recent controversies about the nature and value of narratives of many kinds, Lamarque reaches enlightening, new conclusions about these topics. This is essential reading for anyone interested in narrative.

• Preface / 1. Opacity, Fiction and Narratives of the Self / 2. Narrative and Invention / 3. On Not Expecting Too Much From Narrative / 4. Literary Narratives and Real-Life Narratives / 5. Fiction and the Non-Fiction Novel / 6. Wittgenstein, Literature, and the Idea of a Practice / 7. Literature and Truth / 8. Thought, Opacity and the Values of Literature / 9. Aesthetics and Literature / 10. On Keeping Psychology Out of Literary Criticism / Bibliography / Index

Peter Lamarque is professor of philosophy at the University of York, UK. His many publications include Work and Object: Explorations in the Metaphysics of Art (OUP, 2010), The Philosophy of Literature (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008), Fictional Points of View (Cornell University Press, 1996), and Truth, Fiction and Literature: A Philosophical Perspective (with Stein Haugom Olsen, Clarendon Press, 1994). He was Editor of the British Journal of Aesthetics from 1995 to 2008.

In this book, Peter Lamarque brings his distinctive views about fiction and literature to the related but different topic of narrative. Narratives, especially but not only literary ones, are not windows through which we look at the actual or possible worlds, but opaque constructions we must look into to discover not just what is represented but the way it is represented. Taking this basic idea and applying it to both longstanding and recent controversies about the nature and value of narratives of many kinds, Lamarque reaches enlightening, new conclusions about these topics. This is essential reading for anyone interested in narrative.

• Preface / 1. Opacity, Fiction and Narratives of the Self / 2. Narrative and Invention / 3. On Not Expecting Too Much From Narrative / 4. Literary Narratives and Real-Life Narratives / 5. Fiction and the Non-Fiction Novel / 6. Wittgenstein, Literature, and the Idea of a Practice / 7. Literature and Truth / 8. Thought, Opacity and the Values of Literature / 9. Aesthetics and Literature / 10. On Keeping Psychology Out of Literary Criticism / Bibliography / Index

Peter Lamarque is professor of philosophy at the University of York, UK. His many publications include Work and Object: Explorations in the Metaphysics of Art (OUP, 2010), The Philosophy of Literature (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008), Fictional Points of View (Cornell University Press, 1996), and Truth, Fiction and Literature: A Philosophical Perspective (with Stein Haugom Olsen, Clarendon Press, 1994). He was Editor of the British Journal of Aesthetics from 1995 to 2008.

In this book, Peter Lamarque brings his distinctive views about fiction and literature to the related but different topic of narrative. Narratives, especially but not only literary ones, are not windows through which we look at the actual or possible worlds, but opaque constructions we must look into to discover not just what is represented but the way it is represented. Taking this basic idea and applying it to both longstanding and recent controversies about the nature and value of narratives of many kinds, Lamarque reaches enlightening, new conclusions about these topics. This is essential reading for anyone interested in narrative.

• Preface / 1. Opacity, Fiction and Narratives of the Self / 2. Narrative and Invention / 3. On Not Expecting Too Much From Narrative / 4. Literary Narratives and Real-Life Narratives / 5. Fiction and the Non-Fiction Novel / 6. Wittgenstein, Literature, and the Idea of a Practice / 7. Literature and Truth / 8. Thought, Opacity and the Values of Literature / 9. Aesthetics and Literature / 10. On Keeping Psychology Out of Literary Criticism / Bibliography / Index