On the rhetorical function of fictional worlds

Abstract

This dissertation presents a rhetorical model for fictive discourse grounded in possible worlds theory and modal logic. In a polemic sense this model offers challenge to a discursive hierarchy that deprivileges fiction as empty of truth-value, denying it dialectic or rhetorical force. To this end, the claim of this thesis is to two pragmatic functions for fiction. The first is a philosophical or dialectic function, by which fictional texts are taken as constituting assertions about what is possibly or necessarily the case. The second is a rhetorical function by which such assertions, evaluated by an agent, generate truths at the world of the text.

Date of Award	2013
Original language	English
Supervisor	Adam Dickerson (Supervisor) & Paul MAGEE (Supervisor)