Alison James, Akihiro Kubo, Françoise Lavocat (dir.), The Routledge Handbook of Fiction and Belief

The Routledge Handbook of Fiction and Belief offers a fresh reevaluation of the relationship between fiction and belief, surveying key debates and perspectives from a range of disciplines including narrative and cultural studies, science, religion, and politics. This volume draws on global, cutting edge research and theory to investigate the historically variable understandings of fictionality, and allows readers to grasp the role of fictions in our understanding of the world.

This interdisciplinary approach provides a thorough introduction to the fundamental themes of:

    Theoretical and Philosophical Perspectives on Fiction
    Fiction, Fact, and Science
    Social Effects and Uses of Fiction
    Fiction and Politics
    Fiction and Religion

Questioning how fictions in fact shape, mediate or distort our beliefs about the real world, essays in this volume outline the state of theoretical debates from the perspectives of literary theory, philosophy, sociology, religious studies, history, and the cognitive sciences. It aims to take stock of the real or supposed effects that fiction has on the world, and to offer a wide-reaching reflection on the implications of belief in fictions in the so-called “post-truth” era.

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Contents

Introduction

Alison James, Akihiro Kubo, and Françoise Lavocat

Part I: Believing in Fiction: Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives

    Belief, Imagination, and the Nature of Fiction

    Stacie Friend

    The "Willing Suspension of Disbelief": The Long History of a Short Phrase

    Nicholas Paige

    The Fictionality of Games and the Ludic Nature of Fiction: Make-believe, Immersion, Play

    Marie-Laure Ryan

    Fictional Emotions and Belief

    Eva-Maria Konrad

    Fictional Characters and Belief

    Thomas Pavel

    Fictionality, the Zone of Generic Fiction, and the Allure of Unreliable Narration

    James Phelan

    Belief is a Mess. That Makes it Good for Fiction. (A Perspective from Cognitive Literary Theory)

    Lisa Zunshine

    Fiction and Historiography

    Annick Louis

    Fiction and Scientific Knowledge

    Adam Toon

    Learning from Fiction

    Gregory Currie, Heather Ferguson, Jacopo Frascaroli, Stacie Friend, Kayleigh Green, and Lena Wimmer

    Part II: From Fiction to Belief: Social and Political Effects

    Do Fictions Impact People’s Beliefs? A Critical View

    Nicolas Baumard and Edgar Dubourg

    The Impact of Fiction on Beliefs about Gender

    Vera Nünning

    Implicit Bias, Fiction, and Belief

    Kris Goffin and Agnes Moors

    Children’s Ideas about Stories and about Reality

    Ayse Payir and Paul L. Harris

    From Suspension of Disbelief to Production of Belief: The Case of Alternate Reality Games

    Patrick Jagoda

    Interactive Environments and Fictional Engagement

    Olivier Caïra

    Fake News and Fictional News

    Jessica Pepp, Rachel Sterken and Eliot Michaelson

    Trust, Credulity, and Speech

    Philippe Roussin

    Literature on Credit: Fiction and the Fiduciary Paradigm

    Emmanuel Bouju

    Fifth Generation Fictionality? Fiction, Politics, War

    Henrik Zetterberg-Nielsen

    Uses of Fantasy Fiction in Contemporary Political Mobilization

    Anne Besson

    Fiction, Belief, and Postcolonial Criticism

    Alok Yadav

    Can Fictions Predict the Future?

    Anne Duprat

    Dystopian Fictions and Contemporary Fears

    Jean-Paul Engélibert

    Fiction, Belief, and Climate Change: Paratexts, Skeptics, and Objects of Care

    Erin James

    Part III: Fiction and Religious Belief

    Greek Mythology: Discourse, Belief, and Ritual Action

    Claude Calame

    Fiction and Belief: Approaching Medieval Latin Christendom

    Julie Orlemanski

    Literary Fictions, Religious "Fables," and Unbelief in the West

    Nicolas Correard

    Saints, Between Faith, Belief, and Fiction

    Barbara Selmeci Castioni

    The Role of Fiction in Buddhist Hagiography: The Case of Shinran

    Markus Rüsch

    Fiction and Belief in Ancient and Early Medieval India

    Isabelle Ratié

    Fiction, Religion, and Pre-Modern Arab-Islamic Literature (8th–18th Centuries)

    Aboubakr Chraïbi

    Fiction against Belief and Belief in Fiction in Modern Arabic Literature

    Ève de Dampierre-Noiray

    On Jewish Fiction and Belief: Duplicity, Parables, Confession

    Sarah Hammerschlag

    Religious Uses of Fantasy Fiction

    Markus Altena Davidsen

    Fake Cults, Hyper-Real Religions, Virtual Beliefs at the Crossroads of Fiction, the Sacred, and Technology

Lionel Obadia

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Alison James is Professor of French at the University of Chicago. Her research interests include the Oulipo group, the contemporary novel, theories and representations of everyday life, documentary literature, and questions of fact and fiction.

Akihiro Kubo is Professor of French Literature at Kwansei Gakuin University. His research interests focus on twentieth-century French literature and theories of literature.

Françoise Lavocat is Professor of Comparative Literature at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle. She received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of Chicago, and is a member of the Institut Universitaire de France as well as a member and section chair in the Academia Europaea.