We explain what fiction is, the origin of the term, importance for humanity and characteristics. Also, what types of fiction exist.
What is fiction?
Fiction is called set of imaginary or simulated worlds that construct the narrative arts (literature, cinema, comics), as well as popular dreams, and which may be more or less similar to reality in their characteristics and fundamental laws.
The word fiction comes from Latin fictus (“invented”), derived from the verb I will pretend (“pretend”). It is the name we give to the artistic genre opposed to the “non-fiction” of essays, documentaries, chronicles or reports, which adhere as closely as possible to reality.
On the contrary, The main characteristic of fiction is the free recreation of reality in a similar way to what happens in dreams, creating entire worlds different from our own, for example, or trying to answer what would have happened if this or that event in history occurred or had not occurred.
The possibility of creating and sharing imaginations and daydreams, that is, of creating fictions with the mere objective of entertaining oneself and mentally experiencing other people's experiences, is a characteristic and extremely important trait of the human species. Historians such as the Israeli Yuval Noah Harari (1976-) consider that this is one of the traits responsible for our evolutionary success, which allowed us complex levels of social organization through the imaginary.
Be that as it may, the ability to create and tell fictions, together with the mastery of fire, the incest taboo and ceremonial burial, It constitutes one of the typical traits of humanity. It accompanies us from the primitive horde to the present day.
Furthermore, it has been a frequent subject of reflection among philosophers, thinkers, writers and artists, from Plato (c. 427-347 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC) in classical antiquity, to modern authors such as Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) or Susan Sontag (1933-2004).
See also: Narration
Types of fiction
Fiction can be classified from numerous points of view, especially considering the type of artistic resources used for its creation. Thus, we can talk about literary fiction (the novel, the story), cinematographic fiction, comic fiction or even popular imagination.
Another very common way of classifying fictional productions has to do with the type of possible world they stage, in comparison with the real world. Thus, we have:
- realistic fiction whose possible world is governed by more or less the same rules as the real world, or which at least tries to make itself as indistinguishable as possible from the real world.
- fantasy fiction whose possible world openly breaks with the laws of the real world, making room for supernatural forces such as magic, ghosts, superpowers, etc., since the fantastic world is governed by its own autonomous rules.
- Science fiction. Originally a narrative subgenre, Science Fiction has become one of the main ways of imagining in contemporary times, characterized by an exaggeration or extrapolation of scientific discourse, to construct fictional scenarios, provided with a certain scientific explanatory framework. That is to say, without scientific discourse or a certain scientific point of view, these would be fantastic fictions.
Continue with: Fantastic story
References
- “Fiction” on Wikipedia.
- “Fiction” in the Dictionary of the language of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “The concept of fiction” by Carlos Begnato in Página/12 (Argentina).
- “Fiction” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- “Fiction (literature)” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
