Cause and Effect in Fiction

Springer Nature Switzerland (2024)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This book explores and defends George Saunders’ causal thesis that successful stories are those that establish causation well. The book includes an in-depth discussion of causation’s role in several different key craft elements of fiction writing and examines different theories of causation and their implications for causation in fiction. Other discussions include the role of causation in building suspense, character and causation, causation in dialogue and connections between fiction and counterfactuals (or hypotheticals). The book also considers a number of objections to the causal thesis and offers a reply.

Categories

Add categories

Keywords

Reprint years

ISBN(s)

9783031527111   9783031527128   3031527119

DOI

10.1007/978-3-031-52712-8
View all bargains

Buy this book

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,503

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

My notes

Chapters

Cause and Effect in Theme

Fiction writers often write with the goal of changing minds about the real world. To do this, they often write to convince us that x causes y in the actual world. To do this, they need to convince us that x causes y in the fictional world and that what is true in the fictional world can be exported ... see more

Cause and Effect in Setting

In this chapter, I discuss the causal impacts of setting or environment on characters and events in stories. To do this, I explore six short stories that show a range of these effects: the way harsh physical environments limit characters’ actions; the way harsh social environments impact characters;... see more

Cause and Effect in Dialogue

Much of fiction, and much of the action within scenes, takes the form of dialoguedialogue. Characters do things to each other with words. In this chapter, I explore causationcausation within dialogue, the ways in which what characters say is caused by their charactercharacter, their circumstances, a... see more

Causation and Causation in Fiction

In this chapter, I explore the nature of causationcausation in light of several philosophical theories: Hume’s regularity theory, NecessitarianismNecessitarianism, counterfactual accounts, the transfer of energy account, and a few others. I point out that the exact nature of causation is difficult o... see more

Cause and Effect in Plot

In this chapter, I discuss cause and effect in plot. I explain standard plot points: expositionexposition, inciting incidentinciting incident, rising actionrising action, crisiscrisis, climaxclimax, and resolution, and discuss, with examples from three very different novels, how causationcausation p... see more

Cause and Effect, Counterfactuals, and the Role of Fiction in our Psychic Lives

In this chapter, I consider the idea of stories as hypotheticals, that is, as complicated counterfactuals. I discuss David Lewis’ account of truth in fiction which argues that we treat fictional narratives as counterfactuals. I consider an extension or variation of Lewis’ view that can explain some ... see more

Cause and Effect in Fiction: An Introduction

This chapter introduces the topic of the book: causationcausationcausation within, or according to, stories, and my intention to explore and defend George SaundersGeorge Saunders’ claim that the successful deployment of such causation makes fiction better. In addition, this chapter tries to make sen... see more

Cause and Effect in Character

In this chapter, I discuss aspects of charactercharacter and causationcausation in fiction: how characters are caused to be, how they are caused to change, and how their big choices that constitute the crises or climaxes of stories are caused. I argue, again, that the more meaningful causation the b... see more

Objections and Replies

In this chapter, I discuss several objections to the claim that stories are stronger when they contain more causationcausation, or, at least, more meaningful causation. These objections include the worry that causation is ubiquitous and so, seems to invite the question, “What’s the big deal? I also ... see more

Similar books and articles

Learning Implicit Biases from Fiction.Kris Goffin & Stacie Friend - 2022 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 80 (2):129-139.
Sutrop on Literary Fiction-Making: Defending Currie.Jukka Mikkonen - 2010 - Disputatio 3 (28):151-157.
Fiction cannot be true.László Kajtár - 2017 - Philosophical Studies 174 (9):2167-2186.
Impossible Fictions Part I: Lessons for Fiction.Daniel Nolan - 2021 - Philosophy Compass 16 (2):1-12.
The Vonnegut Effect.Jerome Klinkowitz - 2012 - Univ of South Carolina Press.
The Mental Functions of Appreciating Fiction.Naoko Ishida - 2016 - American Society for Aesthetics Graduate E-Journal 8 (2).
A Family Meal as Fiction.Josep E. Corbi - 2020 - Organon F: Medzinárodný Časopis Pre Analytickú Filozofiu 27:82-105.
Fiction as a Genre.Stacie Friend - 2012 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 112 (2pt2):179--209.
Much Ado About Nonexistence: Fiction and Reference.Hatem Rushdy (ed.) - 2007 - Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
The Scope of Fiction: Comments on Tim Button's 'Where Fiction Ends and Reality Begins' 'Where Fiction Ends and Reality Begins'.Ioannis Votsis - unknown
Evaluating Emotional Responses to Fiction.Paisley Livingston & Alfred Mele - 1997 - In Mette Hjort & Sue Laver (eds.), Emotion and the Arts. Oup Usa.
Fait et fiction ou comment souscrire à un différentialisme modéré au nom de l’amour désintéressé pour la fiction. [REVIEW]Alina Silvana Felea - 2017 - Meta: Research in Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, and Practical Philosophy 9 (1):349-357.
According to the Fiction. A Metaexpressivist Account.Daniel Dohrn - 2015 - Proceedings of the European Society of Aesthetics 7.
Reality is Fiction/Fiction in Reality?Dyer James - 2016 - In Alex Coles (ed.), Design Fiction. Sternberg Press. pp. 131-133.
Truth in fiction.David K. Lewis - 1978 - American Philosophical Quarterly 15 (1):37–46.

Analytics

Added to PP
2024-04-04

Downloads
7 (#1,378,468)

6 months
7 (#418,756)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Frances Howard-Snyder
Western Washington University

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references