Mimesis As Make-believe-a Study Of Kendall Walton's Theory

As the fundamental characteristic of literature,fiction has always been an important concept in literary theory.From the ancient theory of " mimesis ",which regards literature as imitation of reality and denies the independence of literary,to the Speech Act Theory,which makes literary fiction free from the entanglement of logical judgments,there are endless theories about fiction.The analytical philosopher Kendall Lewis Walton(1939-)put the concept of "mimesis" at the heart of fiction again.He thinks that fiction is an imitation of children's make-believe games.He endowed the concept of "representation" with new connotations.The so-called representation no longer refers to a representation of the real world that is opposite to the expression in the "Expression Theory",but a thing with social function,that is,a thing with the function of stimulating imagination.Including novels,painting,music,many forms of art can be called representations.Walton pointed out that only fiction can constitute representation in the literary sense,and pointed out that all representations can be used as props in the game of make-believe,and to investigate from the perspective of imagination.On the one hand,he was influenced by phenomenology and anthropological theory;on the other hand,he constantly returned to the linguistic model to discuss fiction,and provided a new vision in the perspective of Plato's imitation concept,so as to form a transition between aesthetics and metaphysics.Walton's theory of representation in the context of ontology is referred to as pretence theory,and in the context of representational arts,prop theory.This paper attempts to clarify the position of Walton's theory in the development of fiction theory,summarize and analyze the characteristics of the model of make-believe,and discuss the contribution of his theory to art and fiction.Two kinds of problems in Walton's theory are considered: one is the analysis of the role of art in daily life,including the nature of its purpose and the response of the viewer;One is the ontological status of the fictional world,the fictional entities.These two kinds of problems have also formed the divergence between aesthetics and metaphysics.It is the focus of this paper to explore whether Walton can simultaneously solve the problem of fictitious entity and fictitious aesthetic appreciation,and realize the integration of aesthetics and metaphysics.