Literary Fiction according to Augustine’s Soliloquia

Resumo

In this paper, I focus on some passages from Augustine’s Soliloquia. I show that they contain the idea of literary fiction as a non-deceptive lie, in which voluntariness and necessity coexist. I pay particular attention to the case of mythical fiction, which on the one hand leads to Cicero’s theory of narration and on the other hand to Augustine’s conception of imagination.

Keywords: fake; imagination; lie; literary fiction; myth.
Ancient and medieval studied Authors: Augustine; Cicero.

DOI: http://doi.org/10.21747/21836884/med40a2