French Literature Reviews - 2026

Uses and Theories of Fiction: Contemporary Debate Put to the Test of Early Modern Texts (16th–18th Centuries), edited by Françoise Lavocat
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

Review in Acta Fabula: Fiction Elsewhere: Fictional Worlds in Classical Lands, by Marc Escola.

Uses and Theories of Fiction:
Contemporary Debate Put to the Test of Early Modern Texts (16th–18th Centuries)

Edited by Françoise Lavocat

Presses Universitaires de Rennes
Interférences Series
ISBN 2-7535-0005-3
18 euros
262 p., 15.5 x 21 cm
November 2004
Distribution: Sodis
Are contemporary theories of fiction, formulated on the basis of 19th- and 20th-century novels, relevant to older texts? The contributors to this volume examine notions such as "immersion," "shared playful pretense," and "possible worlds" through the lens of texts from a period for which these concepts were not originally designed.

The volume edited by Françoise Lavocat examines whether contemporary theories of fiction, formulated on the basis of nineteenth- and twentieth-century novels, are relevant to older texts. The contributors test notions such as immersion, shared playful pretense, and possible worlds through the lens of texts from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, a period for which these concepts were not originally designed.

Readers interested in the relationship between contemporary narrative theory and early modern literature may find this volume relevant. The collection provides a scholarly examination of how modern analytical tools perform when applied to sixteenth-, seventeenth-, and eighteenth-century texts.