An ‘intrinsic’ characterisation of fiction

D. Matravers (2014) and D. Davies (2020) have explicitly articulated a prevailing consensus within the literature on fiction, positing that fiction’s definition must be based on the kind of reactions it induces rather than its ‘intrinsic’ characteristics, i.e. the properties that fictional tools, such as words or settings, assume before being conveyed to receivers. In contrast to this prevailing consensus, this work proposes an ‘intrinsic’ characterisation of fiction. This characterisation asserts that a work is fiction if and only if there is a socially shared suspension of commitment to its representational role, and it is offered for interpretation. The aim of this study is to show that the proposed characterisation does not suffer from the limitations identified in other ‘intrinsic’ characterisations of fiction. It is further argued that this characterisation is a promising candidate for providing necessary and sufficient conditions for fiction.