Contracts of Fiction

This title considers the advantages of describing fictions as governed by a set of social contracts. It combines current cognitive research with attention to the historical context of works of imagination to argue against the claim that fictions corrupt clear thinking and provide, at best, inert pleasures. The chapters explore the different ways creative work in media from statues to stage plays helps to maintain cultural homeostasis. Like the social contracts of law, language, kinship, and money, the social contracts of fiction are constructed and continually revised within communities.

Year

2015

Language

English

Publisher

Oxford University Press, Incorporated

Editions

3

Pages

304

ISBN

9780190232146

Data source: Wikidata