A Paragraph Defining the Word Fiction

Fiction is the name given to a story that is not real but has been made up. According to one general dictionary, fiction is "an imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent actuality but has been invented" ("Fiction" American). A second dictionary gives a similar definition saying that fiction is "something invented by the imagination or feigned: specif: an invented story" ("Fiction" Webster's ). A Handbook to Literature offers this meaning: "Narrative writing drawn from the imagination rather than from history or fact" (Holman 212).

Holman and Holman consider fiction within the context of literature and his definition is neutral in tone. Narrative writing which is "drawn from the imagination" is placed in implied contrast to other sorts of writing (i.e. exposition or argument) which originate in "history or fact." On the other hand, the definitions offered by the general dictionaries use terms which carry negative connotations. A pretense is "a false appearance or action intended to deceive" ("Pretence" American). And to feign is to pretend or dissemble or "to give a false appearance" or to "induce a false impression" ("Feign" Webster's).

This example illustrates why it is preferable to use a literary handbook to define literary terms rather than a general dictionary. Although both the dictionaries and the handbook agree on the denotation of the word, they differ in the connotations they suggest. Words characteristically acquire particular meanings from the contexts in which they are used, and whereas the ability to fashion stories is essential to imaginative literature, in other contexts (i.e. law or scientific inquiry) it implies a fabrication in disregard of the actual facts.

Works Cited

  • "Feign." Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 1993 ed.

  • "Fiction." The American Heritage College Dictionary. 1993 ed.

  • "Fiction." Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 1993 ed.

  • Harmon, William and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 7th ed. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1996.

  • "Pretense." The American Heritage College Dictionary. 1993 ed.