Truth of fiction versus truth in fiction
Abstract
Literary experiments that combine verifiable statements and fictional invention have led to the often-expressed opinion that the border between fact and fiction is collapsing. In a time when concepts such as post-truth and truthiness threaten to replace the distinction between fact and fiction with panfictionality, it is imperative to find a way to accommodate hybrid texts without sacrificing the border. This article explores different levels of truth in fictional texts, from truth of fiction to truth in fiction, as well as different ways to deal with hybrid texts, from continuum-based models to binary models, and to models allowing an overlap between fact and fiction.
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