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
Awarding Institution	University of Canberra
Supervisor	Adam Dickerson (Supervisor) & Paul Magee (Supervisor)