Alison James
Research Project
Possible and Impossible Fictions
Project Team:
2021 – 2022
René Magritte, Golconda, 1953. The Menil Collection, Houston. © 2021 C. Herscovici / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Key Question
At a time when our conceptions of reality are shifting, how can (or should) fiction help us imagine what is possible?
Project Summary
| How does fiction model our understanding of what is possible, and how does our sense of what is possible constrain what is perceived to be possible or impossible in fictional worlds? |
This project builds on the intellectual exchanges begun by the Neubauer Collegium project “Fact and Fiction” (2016–17), while orienting them toward new research questions. The first project took the contested border between fact and fiction as the point of departure for a cross-disciplinary dialogue, in a moment where “alternative facts” and “post-truth” politics had become a central preoccupation in public discourse. The project leaders now turn to a different area in the study of fiction and fictionality: that of possibilities and impossibilities in and of fiction. Fiction has long been associated with possibility and plausibility—with the construction of plots that are governed by a certain causal logic. But how exactly does fiction model our understanding of what is possible in the real world? Conversely, how does our sense of what is possible in reality constrain what is perceived to be possible or impossible in fictional worlds? Finally, are certain subjects off-limits to fictional representation? If these questions are not new ones, they have taken on a renewed urgency in the twenty-first century: in a context where our “real-world” conceptions of possibility and predictability are shifting in the face of global crisis, how can (or should) fiction present current or future possibilities?
Research Team
Akihiro Kubo
Akihiro Kubo
Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan
Françoise Lavocat
Françoise Lavocat
Professor and Chair, Comparative Literature
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3
Project Narrative
Carousel with 3 slides shown at a time. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate, or the slide dot buttons at the end to jump to slides.
Plotting against Probability: Unruly Sequences, Impossible Fictions, Contradictory Worlds
Lecture
Plotting against Probability: Unruly Sequences, Impossible Fictions, Contradictory Worlds
Brian Richardson reflected on the concept of probability in fiction and the lack of a corresponding notion and portics of improbable fiction.
Fictional Worlds, Fictional Possibilities: A Roundtable in Honor of Thomas Pavel
Discussion
Fictional Worlds, Fictional Possibilities: A Roundtable in Honor of Thomas Pavel
This roundtable paid homage to Thomas Pavel’s influential and varied contributions to the theory of fiction and literary studies.
Are Impossible Fictions Possible?
Lecture
Are Impossible Fictions Possible?
At this talk Marie-Laure Ryan discussed texts that transgress our intuitive conceptions of time, space, and ontological boundaries.
A Discussion with Laurent Binet
Discussion
A Discussion with Laurent Binet
Laurent Binet joined the Impossible Fictions research team for a wide-ranging discussion about his approach to novel writing.
Impossibility, Fiction, and (Make-)Belief
Lecture
Impossibility, Fiction, and (Make-)Belief
Murray Smith (University of Kent) opened up a novel perspective on impossibility, encompassing logical contradictions, contingencies, and more.
Impossible Fictions
Conference
Impossible Fictions
This conference was presented as part of the Second International Congress of the International Society for Fiction and Fictionality Studies.
What Do We Remember about Fictional Characters?
Lecture
What Do We Remember about Fictional Characters?
Françoise Lavocat presented the results of a survey conducted in France on the memory of fictional characters.
Carousel with 3 slides shown at a time. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate, or the slide dot buttons at the end to jump to slides.
Plotting against Probability: Unruly Sequences, Impossible Fictions, Contradictory Worlds
Lecture
Plotting against Probability: Unruly Sequences, Impossible Fictions, Contradictory Worlds
Brian Richardson reflected on the concept of probability in fiction and the lack of a corresponding notion and portics of improbable fiction.
Are Impossible Fictions Possible?
Lecture
Are Impossible Fictions Possible?
At this talk Marie-Laure Ryan discussed texts that transgress our intuitive conceptions of time, space, and ontological boundaries.
Impossibility, Fiction, and (Make-)Belief
Lecture
Impossibility, Fiction, and (Make-)Belief
Murray Smith (University of Kent) opened up a novel perspective on impossibility, encompassing logical contradictions, contingencies, and more.
What Do We Remember about Fictional Characters?
Lecture
What Do We Remember about Fictional Characters?
Françoise Lavocat presented the results of a survey conducted in France on the memory of fictional characters.
Carousel with 3 slides shown at a time. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate, or the slide dot buttons at the end to jump to slides.
Fictional Worlds, Fictional Possibilities: A Roundtable in Honor of Thomas Pavel
Discussion
Fictional Worlds, Fictional Possibilities: A Roundtable in Honor of Thomas Pavel
This roundtable paid homage to Thomas Pavel’s influential and varied contributions to the theory of fiction and literary studies.
A Discussion with Laurent Binet
Discussion
A Discussion with Laurent Binet
Laurent Binet joined the Impossible Fictions research team for a wide-ranging discussion about his approach to novel writing.
Carousel with 3 slides shown at a time. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate, or the slide dot buttons at the end to jump to slides.
Impossible Fictions
Conference
Impossible Fictions
This conference was presented as part of the Second International Congress of the International Society for Fiction and Fictionality Studies.
Reading List
Alber, Jan.
Unnatural Narrative: Impossible Worlds in Fiction and Drama. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. ReadDoležel, Lubomír.
Heterocosmica: Fiction and Possible Worlds. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. ReadFülöp, Erika, ed.
Fictionality, Factuality, and Reflexivity Across Discourses and Media. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2021. ReadLavocat, Françoise.
Fait et Fiction. Pour une frontière. Paris: Seuil, 2016. ReadPriest, Graham.
“Sylvan’s Box: A Short Story and Ten Morals.” Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 38, no. 4 (1997): 573–82. ReadRescher, Nicholas.
Paradoxes: Their Roots, Range and Resolution. Chicago and La Salle, Ill.: Open Court, 2001. ReadRichardson, Brian.
Unnatural Narrative, Theory, History and Practice. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2015. ReadRyan, Marie-Laure.
Possible Worlds, Artificial Intelligence and Narrative Theory. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1991. ReadExplore
