Essentials of the Theory of Fiction

What accounts for the power of stories to both entertain us and interpret our world? This question has compelled the attention of storytellers and students of literature alike--particularly in recent decades--and their answers have opened an important window on larger questions about the nature of culture, as well as of interpretation and understanding. This second edition of Essentials of the Theory of Fiction provides a comprehensive view of the theory of fiction from the nineteenth century, through modernism and postmodernism, to the present.