The Aesthetic Illusion in Literature and the Arts

Description

The notion of aesthetic illusion relates to a number of art forms and media. Defined as a pleasurable mental state that emerges during the reception of texts and artefacts, it amounts to the reader's or viewer's sense of having entered the represented world while at the same time keeping a distance from it. Aesthetic Illusion in Literature and the Arts is an in-depth study of the main questions surrounding this experience of art as reality. Beginning with an introduction providing historical background to modern discussions of illusion, it deals with a wide range of theoretical issues. The collection explores the nature and function of the aesthetic illusion as well as the role of affect and emotion, the implications of aesthetic illusion for the theory of fiction, the variable forms of aesthetic illusion and its relationship to other components of aesthetic response. Aesthetic Illusion in Literature and the Arts brings together a team of scholars from philosophy, literature and art and presents an interdisciplinary examination of a concept lying at the heart of contemporary aesthetics. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents Figures Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The aesthetic illusion: The beginnings of themodern debate 2. Today debate 3. The present volume Note References Part One Illusion and Media 1 Aesthetic Illusion(s)?: Toward a Media-Conscious Theory of Media-Elicited Immersion as a Transmedial Phenomenon 1. The problem of aesthetic illusion from a transmedial point of view: One phenomenon with variations across media or individu 2. Preliminary theoretical remarks: The nature of aesthetic illusion and the six principles informing illusionist works (as de 2.1 Definition of aesthetic illusion 2.2 The nature of aesthetic illusion 2.3 Factors contributing to aesthetic illusion 2.4 Typical features of illusionist representations and the principles of illusion-making: The case of fiction 2.5 Criteria of transmedial comparison and methodology 3. The medial profile of fiction and its relevance to eliciting aesthetic illusion 4. The medial profile of feature film and its relevance to eliciting aesthetic illusion 5. The medial profile of visual art (painting) and its relevance to eliciting aesthetic illusion 6. Results: Aesthetic illusion(s)?—elements of a transmedial theory of aesthetic illusion and perspectives of future research Notes References 2 More than Meets the Eye: Layers of Artistic Representation Note References 3 Mediating Immediacy 1. Terms and cases 2. Illusions: Forgeries 3. Illusion: Literary dummies and fiction 4. Triggers of immediacy 5. Literary illusions? 6. Immediacy: Functions 7. A comment on self-awareness and self-oblivion Notes References 4 Neither Here nor There, but Now: Film Experience and the Aesthetic Illusion 1. Introduction: The Zhivago case 2. Aesthetic illusion in pictures 3. Aesthetic illusion in films 4. The claim of presentness 5. The imagined observer hypothesis 6. Conclusion: Back to Zhivago Notes References Part Two Illusion and the Mind 5 Reading for the Mind: Aesthetic Illusion, Fictional Characters, and the Role of Interpretation 1. Introduction 2. Characters, “twofoldness,” and the character-centered illusion 3. Negotiating meaning in character engagements 3.1 Narratology, mind-reading, and interpretation 3.2 Interpretive strategies 4. Conclusion: A cognitive workout? Notes References 6 A Puzzle of Fiction and Cognitive Impenetrability 1. Introduction 2. The paradox 3. How bad is the situation? 4. Alief and belief 5. Illusions and cognitive architecture 6. Cognitive illusions 7. Cognitive impenetrability 8. And fiction? Notes References 7 Illusion, Distance, and Appropriation 1. Preliminaries 2. Putative facts 3. Corroboration and interest 4. Justifiability 5. Characters 6. Two movements 7. A definition 8. Consequences Notes References 8 Fact, Fiction, and Projection: The Inescapability of Austerlitz’s Impulse 1. Bliss and isolation in Marienbad 2. Becoming aware of the process of obliteration 3. Liverpool Street Station: The quest for truth 4. Fiction, facts, and the normative demands of homeliness Notes References Part Three Illusive Worlds 9 La Comédie Humaine and the Illusion of Reality References 10 Fiction, Illusion, Reality, and Radical Narration 1. Right replies to wrong questions 2. Conflict 3. Parallel with nonfictional texts 4. Narrative fiction and the actual world 5. Consequence: A modest account of fictional worlds 6. Preservation of meanings in fictional texts 7. Fictional names 8. Fictional characters 9. Singular propositions in literary fiction 10. Modal intuitions, possible worlds, and re-centering (M.-L. Ryan) 12. Narration in decay and performative representation Notes References 11 A Moral Life of Things: The Making and Breaking of Aesthetic Illusion in Lyric Poetry Notes References 12 The Novel and the Aesthetic Illusion Note References Part Four Questioning Illusion 13 How Should We Talk About Reading Experiences? Arguments and Empirical Evidence 1. Introduction 2. Aesthetic illusion: Some definitions 3. Aesthetic illusion: Points of interest 4. Aesthetic illusion: Some problems 5. Aesthetic illusion in empirical practice 5.1 Frequencies of AeI and other concepts 5.2 The therapeutic relevance of aesthetic illusion 6. Thinking beyond the existing competition 7. Conclusion Acknowledgments References 14 Aesthetic Illusion between the Prague School and Fictional Worlds Theory: (with Two Detours: via Realist Fictional Narrative 1. Aesthetic illusion 2. The Prague School: Aesthetic function 3. Fictional worlds 4. Detour 1: Realist novel (narrative) 5. Detour 2: Lyric poetry 6. Conclusions Notes References 15 Skeptical Reflections on the Concept of Aesthetic Illusion 1. Terminological questions 2. Absorbed attention to a representation 3. Visualization of representational content 4. Make-believe and simulation 5. Aesthetic illusion: Concluding remarks Notes References Index of Names Index of Topics