Difficulties with telling the truth in non-fictive narratives and the issue of fictionalization

Bibliographic Data

ID12625625
AuthorsKatarzyna Filutowska (0000-0002-8102-2652, University of Warsaw, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume32
Issue2
Pages289-308
Publication date2021-02-15
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNarrative Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1387-6740 • E-ISSN: 1569-9935
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/ni.20101.fil
OpenAlexW3129427019
LanguageEN
References cited44

The purpose of this paper is to discuss difficulties with telling the truth in non-fictive narratives (e.g. trauma stories, rape narratives, asylum-seekers’ narratives). In order to do that I analyze, among others, various discourse fictionalization strategies, such as emplotment, narrative substances (Nss), vague predicates, and approximate references. I argue that these strategies are conditioned by the very nature of language, and therefore are present in all types of statements – literary as well as scientific. Referring to the concept of alethic pluralism, I also discuss how it is possible that the use of fictionalization techniques in non-fictive stories does not necessarily transform them into fiction

Art · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Sociology · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Philosophy · Psychology · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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