ALWARD, Peter, //Empty revelations. An Essay on Talk about, and Attitudes toward, Fiction//, Montréal, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2012.

**Présentation de l'éditeur**

What mysteries lie at the heart of fiction's power to enchant and engage the mind? Empty Revelations considers a number of philosophical problems that fiction raises, including the primary issue of how we can think and talk about things that do not exist. Peter Alward covers thought-provoking terrain, exploring fictional truth, the experience of being "caught up" in a story, and the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction.

At the centre of Alward's argument is a figure known as the "narrative informant" who mediates the reader's encounter with fictional events through - sometimes unreliable - reporting. Developing a theory in which the author is a sculptor who constructs works of fiction out of words, Alward demonstrates that much of the confusion about fiction stems from a failure to properly distinguish between writing fiction and telling stories.

Combining clarity, philosophical sophistication, ingenuity, and originality, Empty Revelations is a rewarding read for both scholars of philosophy and anyone interested in the complex ways that fiction works. - See more at: http://www.mqup.ca/empty-revelations-products-9780773540385.php#sthash.rrgKN49s.dpuf

**Table des matières**

Preface ix

Introduction 3

__Part one: authors and readers - negative__

1 Compositional Speech Acts 15

2 Reader Engagement 34

__Part two: authors and readers - positive__

3 Word-Sculpture 63

4 Narrative Informants 83

__Part three: fictional names and fictional talk__

5 Empty Revelations 115

6 Fictional Discourse 140

Conclusion 170

Notes 173

Bibliography 195

Index 203