Introduction In: Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination
Otto BC, Johannsen D, Johannsen D (2021)
Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes
Publication year: 2021
Edited Volumes: Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination
Pages Range: 1-20
DOI: 10.1163/9789004466005_002
Abstract
Fiction, so we read in a contemporary etymological dictionary, is “that which
is invented or imagined in the mind” (Harper 2020a). The word goes back to
old French ficcion (“dissimulation, ruse; invention, fabrication”) and from there
to the Latin fictio (which implies two distinct meanings: (1) “the act of mode-
ling something, of giving it a form”; and (2) “acts of pretending, supposing, or
hypothesizing”: Schaffer 2012), with its verb fingere (“to shape, form, devise,
feign”) which also means “to form out of clay.” Practice, in turn, goes back to
old French practiser and Latin practicare, with its root meaning of “to do, to
perform.” From the fifteenth century onwards, it also acquired the meaning
of “to perform repeatedly to acquire skill, to learn by repeated performance”
(Harper 2020b)
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Involved external institutions
Norway (NO)How to cite
APA:
Otto, B.-C., Johannsen, D., & Johannsen, D. (2021). Introduction In: Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination. In Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination. (pp. 1-20).
MLA:
Otto, Bernd-Christian, Dirk Johannsen, and Dirk Johannsen. "Introduction In: Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination." Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination. 2021. 1-20.
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