Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Watson, Kendall L. / Walton, Kendall, PUBLISHER: Harvard University Press, Representations--in visual arts and in fiction--play an important part in our lives and culture. Kendall Walton presents here a ong>theong>ory of ong>theong> nature of representation, which illuminates its many varieties and goes a long way toward explaining its importance. Drawing analogies to children's make believe activities, Walton constructs a ong>theong>ory that addresses a broad range of issues: ong>theong> distinction between fiction and nonfiction, how depiction differs from description, ong>theong> notion of points of view in ong>theong> arts, and what it means for one work to be more "realistic" than anoong>theong>r. He explores ong>theong> relation between appreciation and criticism, ong>theong> character of emotional reactions to literary and visual representations, and what it means to be caught up emotionally in imaginary events. Walton's ong>theong>ory also provides solutions to ong>theong> thorny philosophical problems of ong>theong> existence--or ontological standing--of fictitious beings, and ong>theong> meaning of statements referring to ong>theong>m. And it leads to striking insights concerning imagination, dreams, nonliteral uses of language, and ong>theong> status of legends and myths. Throughout Walton applies his ong>theong>oretical perspective to particular cong>asong>es; his analysis is illustrated by a rich array of examples drawn from literature, painting, sculpture, ong>theong>ater, and film. "Mimesis ong>asong> Make-Believe" is important reading for everyone interested in ong>theong> workings of representational art.