Possible Worlds

Karin Wenz, Assistant Professor of English, University of Kassel

Eco (1990) describes narrative worlds as possible worlds which provide structures, but not one specific narrative world. When we follow this idea in respect to narrative theory we have to give up models which try to describe the text as one world in favor of an open multifaceted view of textuality. Narrative worlds as possible worlds are cultural artifacts and therefore subject to semiotic stipulation. A possible world, which Eco calls a "furnished"world, is not the linear discourse of the text, but designed in the cooperative interaction between text and reader. The universe of discourse which is chosen to design a possible world has to be described with respect to its specific organization of space.


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