Mimesis and Possible Worlds

From its origins, i.e., the writings of Plato and Aristotle, Occidental aesthetic thinking has been dominated by the idea of mimesis: Fictions (fictional objects) are derived from reality, they are imitations/representations of actually existing entities. During its long reign, the idea has been interpreted in many different ways and, consequently, the term has accumulated several distinct meanings.' Undoubtedly, these ambiguities can be resolved only by a careful theoretical and semantic analysis of the concept.2 My paper is intended to contribute to this analysis by constructing or reconstructing the theory of mimesis which underlies the praxis of modern mimetic criticism. This approach will prove useful for my specific and restricted purpose: to offer a critique of the popular mimetic phraseology and to propose a promising alternative to mimetic theories of fictionality. Historians of all kinds have been involved in the search for actual