The Sign of Four

Abstract

Chapter 2 lays down the general traits of the Radical Fictionalist analysis of fiction, focusing on the case of homodiegetic narrative. In particular, this chapter stresses the distinction between empty names and fictional names, it explains the role of impartations in fictional discourse, and it motivates the primacy of fictional tellers for a Radical Fictionalist take on fiction. Radical Fictionalism is then compared with some alternative views on the semantics of fictional discourse, with particular attention to Pragmatic Millianism and to theories of semantic ascent. The final sections pause on the Radical Fictionalist approach to speech acts in fiction, and they criticize the idea of a dedicated illocutionary force of fiction-making.