Blending Fiction and the Real: Discerning the Most Robust Evolutionary Pattern in Narrative Literature

Authors

  • Linda Henriksson Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  • Juani Guerra Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.28914/Atlantis-2024-46.2.05

Abstract

The most common understanding of fiction is as a piece of literature that describes imaginary events and people, something invented and not true. In this sense, fiction can be explained and understood as standing in opposition to the reality. If we instead look at fiction from the perspective of biopoetics and cognitive theory, it becomes clear that it does not show a sharply defined opposition to reality. It is this fuzziness of boundaries between fiction and the real that we are concerned with in this article; our hypothesis includes the application of Blending Theory (BT) to outline the cognitive processes that sustain the conceptualisation of fictive narrative. Our article attempts to propose a model stemming from cognitive theories of language, that accounts for the underlying cognitive processes that constitute the complex meaning construction when dealing with fictive narrative.

 

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Author Biographies

Linda Henriksson, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Linda Henriksson holds a degree in English Philology and a Diploma of Advanced Studies in New Cognitive Perspectives in the Study of Language, Literature and Translation from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where she is currently earning a doctoral degree in Linguistic and Literary Studies in their Sociocultural Contexts.

Juani Guerra, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Juani Guerra is Associate Professor of Language, Literature and Culture at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). She directs the Laboratory of Cognition and Cultural Health at IUIB ULPGC. She holds a PhD in English and Literary Studies (Complutense University of Madrid) and was Director of the PhD Program New Cognitive Perspectives in the Study of Language, Literature and Translation at ULPGC (2003-2016). She has been Scholar and Lecturer at Oslo University (1986), University of Kent (1988), U.C. Berkeley (1996), Harvard University (2001), U.C. San Diego (2008), Syddansk University (2011) and Aarhus University (2014), among others. She was also a Board Member of the Executive Committee of the International Society Short Story (2006-18).

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Published

2024-12-23

How to Cite

Henriksson, L., & Guerra, J. (2024). Blending Fiction and the Real: Discerning the Most Robust Evolutionary Pattern in Narrative Literature. Atlantis. Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies, 46(2), 93–114. https://doi.org/10.28914/Atlantis-2024-46.2.05

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