Why Fiction Matters

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dc.contributor.advisorLevinson, Jerrolden_US
dc.contributor.authorHolliday, John-Gregory Bassen_US
dc.contributor.departmentPhilosophyen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-09-18T05:56:21Z
dc.date.available2015-09-18T05:56:21Z
dc.date.issued2015en_US
dc.description.abstractI explore five features that bear upon literary value and what is involved in appreciating those features. In the introduction, I motivate the project, examine the notion of literary value itself, and sketch the major arguments of the dissertation. In chapter one, I argue that the sonic qualities of a work of fictional literature are always relevant to the literary value of the work. In chapter two, I develop a working account of rhythm in literature and argue that sufficiently appreciating rhythm when reading a work of literature requires performative interpretation. In chapter three, I argue that truth is sometimes relevant to the literary value of fiction. In chapter four, I argue that literature has the capacity to cultivate moral expertise in the intuitive judgment of particular moral cases and that such capacity contributes to literary value. Finally, in chapter five, I argue that fictional literature can provide a reader with the resources for an intimate emotional connection with the author and that a work’s ability to afford such an experience is a literary merit. The larger goal of the dissertation is to make a positive contribution to the discussion of literature’s value, particularly as it concerns prose fiction.en_US
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/M2NW75
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/17066
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledPhilosophyen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledAestheticsen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledLiteratureen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledAestheticsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledPhilosophy of Arten_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledPhilosophy of Literatureen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledValue of Literatureen_US
dc.titleWhy Fiction Mattersen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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