Abstract
Since the 1980s， the question of fictionality has been a major focus of Western scholarship. A variety of theoretical and methodological approaches have emerged， among which the most representative are the works of Thomas Pavel， Kendall Walton， Genette， Marie-Laure Ryan， Lubomír Dolezel， Dorrit Cohn， and Jean-Marie Schaeffer. Studies of fictionality can be divided into three categories： studies of the internal such as ontological and formalist methods， studies of the external such as those adopting the perspectives of pragmatics and cognitive science， and research that combines these two approaches. These studies have shaped the primary orientations and tendencies in the study of fictionality in the West， namely， the transmedia perspective， the synthetic approach that integrates the internal and external methods， and intercultural and historical perspectives that aim to capture the cultural diversity and historicity of the concept. In general， contemporary Western research on fictionality seeks to better understand the varied relationships between cultures of fiction and their corresponding societies， and to reinforce fiction's role in an anthropological sense.
Keywords
fictionality; “theoretical turn”; ontology; formalism; pragmatics; cognitive science
First Page
1
Last Page
9
Recommended Citation
Cao, Danhong. 2024. "The “Theoretical Turn” of Fictionality Studies and the Trend of Contemporary Western Research on Fictionality." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 43, (4): pp.1-9. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol43/iss4/1
