The creation of fictional worlds in the two short story cycles "Dubliners" and "Our Village" (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, language: English, abstract: This term paper seeks to explore the creation of fictional worlds in the two short story cycles Dubliners and Our Village. Naturally, it requires a lot of effort to analyze world-making in a literary text: there are so many criteria that need to be examined. But despite these difficulties, I still venture to take a deeper look at the different modes of fictionality, because I believe that such an inquiry will help us discover the operation principles of world-making. And due to their collaged variety of world views, short story cycles might be the ideal research objects if we want to determine what makes fictional worlds credible.

In order to reach this goal, I will first introduce my own theory and methodology of world-making that will focus on a large set of criteria at the endo-narrative, exo-narrative, and meta-narrative levels. The described criteria will then be set to use in the analysis of the two short story cycles. The main points for examination during this process will be mood, emotionality, rhetoric and narrative strategies, since I regard them as the most fundamental aspects that contribute to the credibility of a story world. Thus, I hope to evince both the elements that might make a fictional world real/concrete and any eventual interferences which may be detrimental to the credibility of the stories.