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The Art of Storytelling

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The Seduction of Fiction

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Affect Theory and Literary Criticism ((PSATLC))

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Abstract

Building on Todorov’s view that literature opens the possibility of interaction with others that can infinitely enrich us, this chapter shows how emotions engendered in us by literature can give our real world more sense. Since the eighteenth century, the novel has tried to reproduce plausible events in the real world in order to construct “possible worlds” that seem so real that readers feel they could live in them. The myth-making property of our brains is thus stimulated by the superimposition of facts and fiction, which lies at the heart of storytelling.

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Vernay, JF. (2016). The Art of Storytelling. In: The Seduction of Fiction. Palgrave Studies in Affect Theory and Literary Criticism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39453-4_6

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