Lesson plan
Referential density
Referential density is a concept of ficto-narrative theory put forward by Thomas G. Pavel in his 1986 book, Fictional Worlds. The concept refers to the referential relationship of a text to a fictional world, the ontology of which can be established by a possible worlds approach. A large text that refers to a small fictional world is said to have low referential density, whereas a small text referring to a large fictional world has high referential density. The size of the text is measured in abstract terms as amplitude, which in most cases will correspond to its physical length; exceptions to this may arise in cases of embedded discourses, such as metanarratives (or imaging digressions), which refer to the actual world. For this reason, the form and genre of a fictional work provide only an approximate indication of its size; by the same token, it is possible to refer to the size and referential density of part of a fictional work. The size of a fictional world, in turn, is measured in terms of the sum total of properties applicable to the objects and agents inhabiting the fictional world.
Article summary
Referential density is a concept of ficto-narrative theory put forward by Thomas G. Pavel in his 1986 book, Fictional Worlds. The concept refers to the referential relationship of a text to a fictional world, the ontology of which can be established by a possible worlds approach. A large text that refers to a small fictional world is said to have low referential density, whereas a small text referring to a large fictional world has high referential density. The size of the text is measured in abstract terms as amplitude, which in most cases will correspond to its physical length; exceptions to this may arise in cases of embedded discourses, such as metanarratives (or imaging digressions), which refer to the actual world. For this reason, the form and genre of a fictional work provide only an approximate indication of its size; by the same token, it is possible to refer to the size and referential density of part of a fictional work. The size of a fictional world, in turn, is measured in terms of the sum total of properties applicable to the objects and agents inhabiting the fictional world.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.