On Fictional Narrative Worlds

The concept of possible worlds was raised by Leibniz,and was developed into possible worlds semantics in the mid of 20 th century by philosophers of the analytic school as a means to solve the problems of modal statements in formal semantics.In the late 1970 s,scholars adopted possible worlds theory to literary theory,with an intention to provide a theoretical framework for the discussion of the truth value and referential problems of literary discourse.Most research work in this field has been done on the explanatory power of possible worlds theory for literary semantics,such as the fictionality and factuality of fictional worlds of narrative in literature.However,the studies are scattered,neither enough nor systematic.Aiming at setting up a more systematic model of possible worlds narrative theory,this dissertation probes into the application of possible worlds theory to fictional worlds of narrative from the holistic perspectives of both the internal and the external,and attempts to elaborate the significance and contribution of possible worlds theory to narrative studies.On the basis of the allusions to the resemblance of the literary texts to some specific possible worlds,this dissertation researches into fictional worlds from the perspective of possible worlds theory,mainly focuses on the matters of typology of fictional worlds,plots,characters,readers,authors,metalypsis,transmedia narrative by making use of the concepts of possible worlds such as modal logics,accessible relation,transworld identity and counterpart theory.This dissertation examines the values and contributions of possible worlds theory to narrative studies from the following three aspects,the interior of the fictional worlds,the exterior of the fictional worlds and the intertextual relationship of the fictional worlds.The procedures are as follows:First of all,on the basis of an investigation of the migration of possible worlds theory from philosophy to literature,the dissertation takes the advantage of the metaphor of “texts as worlds”,and studies the features of the fictional worlds of narrative such as the connotation,the extension,the attributes and the characteristics.The foundation of possible worlds theory is a universe composed of a plurality of different worlds,with the actual world as the center of the system,and other members as the non-actual possible worlds.The different worlds are linked to each other by the accessible relation.As a specific possible world that can never be actualized in the system of reality,fictional worlds share this feature.Based on it,on the one hand,we can take the actual worlds as the starting point,and establish the typology of fictional worlds by analyzing the accessible relation between the actual world and fictional worlds.On the other hand,taking the fictional worlds as a standing point,we can look into the inner structure of fictional worlds and set up the poetics of plotting by taking advantage of the modal relation of textual actual world and the characters' private worlds.Next,the dissertation takes the measure of interior study,and concentrates on the key element of fictional worlds---characters,who are the inhabitants of the fictional worlds.According to the modal operators of necessity,possibility and impossibility,characters can be categorized into three types: actual characters,cross characters,and fictional characters,with each type to be further subcategorized to more detailed types.Based on it,a theory of characters will be established from the perspective of possible worlds theory.Then,the dissertation turns to the exterior of fictional worlds,studies issues of the readers and the authors,and explores the interactive relationship of the authors and the readers in the construction and reconstruction of fictional worlds,which is the main focus of the poetics of immersion.It takes the authors as the constructors of fictional worlds,and the readers as experiencers.As a rule,authors should make endeavors in their writing to provide precondition for readers' immersion,and the reading process for the readers is to suspend suspicion and get recentered from the actual world to the fictional worlds.In this way,the dissertation attempts to set up an immersive theory of possible worlds.Lastly,focusing on the intertextual relations,the dissertation works on the relations between different possible worlds.It takes the metalypsis and transmedia narrative as the objects of the research.Both the researches on how the characters or events move from one fictional worlds to anther and the studies on how texts with different media work together to build one fictional world are helpful for us to speculate the relation between fictional worlds and actual world and that of different fictional worlds.By doing so,we can build up a theory of transfictionality.To sum up,possible worlds theory is proved to be a helpful tool for the study of narratology,as it touches upon matters of both the actual world and the fictional worlds.It brings multiple elements that are concerned with narratology,such as genre,plot,characters,readers,authors,borders,media and so on,into its research scale.Taking plot and characters,the inner elements of fictional narrative worlds,as the objects,we can make use of the concepts of modal logic from the possible worlds theory,and construct a poetic of plot as well as a theory of characters.Focusing on the authors and the readers,who are outside of the fictional narrative worlds,we can develop an immersive theory by using the metaphor of “texts as worlds”.Besides,taking the approach of intertextual study,we can figure out the relation between different worlds.On the one hand,with accessible relation,we can assort the types of fictional narrative worlds and set up a theory of genre.On the other hand,we can apply the concepts of transworld identity and that of the counterpart to the issues of metalypsis and transmedia storytelling,and set up a theory of transfictionality.Adopting possible worlds theory to literary semantics enables us to view the fictional worlds from the perspectives of both the interior and the exterior,with a consideration of the intertextual relationship too,so that we can research into multi factors of fictional worlds and build up a model of possible worlds narratology.Undoubtedly,the application of possible worlds theory to literature is significant.For one thing,it broadens the sphere of possible worlds theory;for another,it impels the development of research on narrative studies.