Abstract

The ontology of fictional objects in fictional literary texts is one of the most debated issues of a general theory of fiction. This contribution starts out from considerations by Rudolf Haller, connecting them with the model of the Possible Worlds Theory (PWT). A particular strength of this theory is that it does not only analyse the borders of fiction, which lie between the real and the text world, but that it offers in particular a more accurate differentiation within the text world itself by drawing attention to the issue of what is possible, impossible and necessary within a Textual actual world (TAW). In this way, for example, the ‘Wunschwelt’ of individual characters and their confrontation with what will be possible or actual within a particular text world, can be described in detail and, as in the case of Ovid’s exile poems Tristia, the literary play with different levels of fictitiousness can be analysed.