Sameness, difference, or continuity?

Abstract Three claims are advocated in this article. Firstly, the article suggests that there is no relevant “sameness approach,” which would advise reading fiction and non-fiction similarly. Secondly, it argues that both fiction and non-fiction exhibit multiple functions and cannot be reduced to the binary setting of informing or entertaining. Thirdly, it suggests that the continuity thesis does not imply sameness. By applying the fundamental logical distinction between necessary and sufficient conditions, one can accept major similarities between the resources of reading fiction and non-fiction without ever presuming their sameness. These claims are considered by first revisiting the histories of narratology and the narrative social research and then discussing M. A. K. Halliday’s systemic-functional language theory.