Pragmatics and Fiction (Paperback)

"Pragmatics and Fiction "explores the basic pragmatic differences between fictional and nonfictional discourse. These differences derive mainly from the creation of a fictional figure who narrates the text and who, in turn, addresses his narrative to a fictional audience. Since these figures become the language users of the fictional text and, therefore, displace the actual writer and reader from the communicative context, they dominate the text s pragmatic features. After elaborating a description of fiction from the point of view of these fictional language users, some of the implications for literary interpretation are taken up, particularly those for reader-oriented criticism.