Actual Fictions
Literary Representation and Character Network Analysis

Rethinks a foundational concept of literary theory ('mimesis') and the question of how narrative fiction reflects or influences society.

Roel Smeets (Author)

9781009180795, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 August 2022

75 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 0.5 cm, 0.13 kg

This Element sheds a new light on the ubiquitous yet complex notion of mimesis. By systematically comparing the social dynamics of the Dutch population at a given time with the social dynamics of characters in Dutch literary fiction published in the same period, it aims to pinpoint the ways in and the extent with which literary fiction either mirrors or shapes the societal context from which it emerged. While close-reading-based scholarship on this topic has been limited to qualitative interpretations of allegedly exemplary works, the present study uses the data-driven tools of social network analysis to systematically determine the imitative elements of the social dynamics of characters within larger-scale, representative collections of books of literary fiction.

1. Introduction
2. Novel divides: characters and people
3. Novel connectivity: female characters and women's emancipation
4. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary theory [DSA], Literature & literary studies [D]