Difficulties with telling the truth in non-fictive narratives and the issue of fictionalization

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss difficulties with telling the truth in non-fictive narratives (e.g. trauma stories, rape narratives, asylum-seekers’ narratives). In order to do that I analyze, among others, various discourse fictionalization strategies, such as emplotment, narrative substances (Nss), vague predicates, and approximate references. I argue that these strategies are conditioned by the very nature of language, and therefore are present in all types of statements – literary as well as scientific. Referring to the concept of alethic pluralism, I also discuss how it is possible that the use of fictionalization techniques in non-fictive stories does not necessarily transform them into fiction.