The Reader and the Fictional Hero

The Imaginary

This flow traces the reader’s emotional bond with fictional characters and Sartre’s account of how imaginative engagement differs from believing them real.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A World Opens in Reading A World Opens in Reading from "The Imaginary". The Reader Enters Through Words From marks to world A novel’s words guide the reader toward people and places that are not physically present.

A World Opens in Reading from "The Imaginary". The Reader Enters Through Words From marks to world A novel’s words guide the reader toward people and places that are not physically present.

The Reader Enters Through Words From marks to world A novel’s words guide the reader toward people and places that are not physically present. Prior information and the text’s unfolding details organize an irreal setting in which events can be followed. The reader does not need a complete mental picture for this world to become imaginatively accessible. A relation of attention Reading establishes a general orientation toward an unfolding story. Words serve as a route into the fictional world rather than merely as isolated labels.

Concern for a Character Concern for a Character from "The Imaginary". Feeling for the Imaginary Emotional involvement The reader may feel anxiety or sympathy for a character while knowing that the character is fictional.

Concern for a Character from "The Imaginary". Feeling for the Imaginary Emotional involvement The reader may feel anxiety or sympathy for a character while knowing that the character is fictional.

Feeling for the Imaginary Emotional involvement The reader may feel anxiety or sympathy for a character while knowing that the character is fictional. Sartre explains this by treating feeling as part of the imaginative act, not as evidence that the reader has mistaken fiction for reality. The story’s world can solicit an affective response without demanding literal belief in its events. The role of distance The reader remains able to refrain from intervention in ordinary reality. Imaginative closeness and practical distance can coexist because the fictional object is not a present person in the reader’s environment.

The Hero as Imaginary Self The Hero as Imaginary Self from "The Imaginary". Identification and Its Limits A borrowed adventure Readers can partly identify with a hero and feel that the hero’s danger matters personally.

The Hero as Imaginary Self from "The Imaginary". Identification and Its Limits A borrowed adventure Readers can partly identify with a hero and feel that the hero’s danger matters personally.

Identification and Its Limits A borrowed adventure Readers can partly identify with a hero and feel that the hero’s danger matters personally. Sartre describes this as an imaginative relation, not a literal transfer of the reader into the story. A strong identification can make the fictional adventure feel pressing while preserving its irreal character. A deeper enclosure Dream may intensify this structure by presenting an imaginary self within an enveloping story. The reader’s shifting identification thus helps clarify the more closed and compelling participation of the dreamer.

Part II’s discussion of novels

As the reader follows the novel’s central predicament

In Part IV’s comparison of reading and Dream