Photos, Facts and Fiction: Literary Texts and Mechanical Representation

As a mechanical mode of representation, both iconic and indexical, photography has a testimonial and documentary power matched only by film and audio recordings. As Roland Barthes put it, “contrary to [language-based] imitations, in Photography, I can never deny that the thing has been there.” Yet “the thing” can be faked, the recording can be manipulated, and the testimonial value of photos can be subverted in many ways. In this article, I examine the various roles that photos can play when connected to literary texts or to graphic novels. Several cases will be discussed: photos as factual documents that complement language in nonfictional literary texts such as autobiographies; deceptive use of photos in fictional texts that try to pass as or imitate factual texts (Wolfgang’s Hildesheimer’s Marbot); non-deceptive use of photos to break the frame of a fictionalized storyworld and assert the real-world reference of the text (Art Spiegelman’s Maus); ambiguous use of photos in texts that hover between the factual and the fictional (W.G. Sebald’s The Emigrants); and the strange case of Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence, where photos as collector’s items are exhibited in a real-world museum that both refers to the text and remains independent of it, thereby documenting both the fictional and the real world

Truth of fiction versus truth in fiction

Literary experiments that combine verifiable statements and fictional invention have led to the often-expressed opinion that the border between fact and fiction is collapsing. In a time when concepts such as post-truth and truthiness threaten to replace the distinction between fact and fiction with panfictionality, it is imperative to find a way to accommodate hybrid texts without sacrificing the border. This article explores different levels of truth in fictional texts, from truth of fiction to truth in fiction, as well as different ways to deal with hybrid texts, from continuum-based models to binary models, and to models allowing an overlap between fact and fiction. Literary experiments that combine verifiable statements and fictional invention have led to the often-expressed opinion that the border between fact and fiction is collapsing. In a time when concepts such as post-truth and truthiness threaten to replace the distinction between fact and fiction with panfictionality, it is imperative to find a way to accommodate hybrid texts without sacrificing the border. This article explores different levels of truth in fictional texts, from truth of fiction to truth in fiction, as well as different ways to deal with hybrid texts, from continuum-based models to binary models, and to models allowing an overlap between fact and fiction

Introduction: Possible Worlds Theory Revisited

This volume systematically outlines the theoretical underpinnings of the possible worlds approach, provides updated methods for analyzing fictional narrative, and profiles those methods via the analysis of a range of different texts, ..

L’expérience de l’espace dans les jeux vidéo et les récits numériques

Cet article étudie deux conceptions de l’espace dans les textes numériques : l’une basée sur une relation émotionnelle et l’autre sur une relation stratégique. Alors que la conception émotionnelle de l'espace construit le sujet par la relation affective qu’il entretient avec son milieu ambiant, la conception stratégique le construit comme possibilité d'action. Les deux conceptions sont illustrées par l’étude de documents variés : annotations autobiographiques de photos de Google Earth, mondes en ligne, cartes de jeux vidéo, et Alternate Reality Games.This article studies two conceptions of space in digital media: the first based on an emotional relation to space, and the second on a strategic relation. While the emotional conception constructs subjects on the basis of their affective relation to his environment, the strategic relation constructs them as possibility of action. The two conceptions are illustrated through the study of a variety of documents: autobiographical annotations of Google Earth photos, online worlds, video game maps, and Alternate Reality Games

My Narratology

An Interview with Marie-Laure Ryan

Narratologie et sciences cognitives : une relation problématique*

Les approches cognitives ont été généralement saluées comme la vague de l’avenir pour la narratologie. Mais en dépit d'un vif intérêt pour ce que le récit révèle de la vie de l’esprit, l'importance des contributions concrètes des sciences dites cognitives à la narratologie est loin d’entraîner l’unanimité. Dans cet article, je propose un examen critique des différentes approches cognitives de la narration. Ces approches vont des études basées sur l'imagerie cérébrale, aux expériences psychologiques qui testent la réaction de sujets à des textes simples composées spécialement pour l'occasion, à l'importation de concepts développés par des disciplines spéculatives, comme la psychologie sociale ou la philosophie de l'esprit. Je distingue trois domaines d'investigation pour la narratologie cognitive : (1) l'esprit des personnages ; (2) l'activité mentale du lecteur (spectateur, joueur, etc.) ; (3) le récit comme manifestation d’une manière de penser. À la tendance de concevoir la narratologie cognitive comme l’application de haut en bas de concepts empruntés aux sciences cognitives, j’oppose une méthode procédant de bas en haut, faisant confiance à la capacité intuitive de notre esprit de comprendre comment il crée, décode et utilise des histoires.Cognitive approaches have been widely hailed as “the next big thing” in the beleaguered field of literary studies. But despite a widespread interest for what narrative means for the life of the mind, the significance of the concrete contributions of the so-called cognitive sciences to narratology is far from enjoying broad acknowledgment. In this paper I propose a critical examination of the various approaches to narrative that can be called “cognitive”, from hard scientific studies based on brain scanning, to psychological experiments that test the reaction of subjects to simple texts composed specially for the occasion, to the import of concepts from the more speculative disciplines of the cognitive sciences, such as social psychology or philosophy of mind. I distinguish three areas of investigation for cognitive narratology: (1) the minds of characters ; (2) the mental activity of the reader (spectator, player, etc) ; (3) narrative as a way of thinking. Against the tendency to conceive cognitive narratology as a matter of borrowing ready-made concepts from the cognitive sciences and applying them top-down to texts, I argue in favor of trusting the ability of our own minds to figure out how the mind creates, decodes and uses stories

User Experience Design for E-Voting: How mental models align with security mechanisms

This paper presents a mobile application for vote-casting and vote-verification based on the Selene e-voting protocol and explains how it was developed and implemented using the User Experience Design process. The resulting interface was tested with 38 participants, and user experience data was collected via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews on user experience and perceived security. Results concerning the impact of displaying security mechanisms on UX were presented in a complementary paper. Here we expand on this analysis by studying the mental models revealed during the interviews and compare them with theoretical security notions. Finally, we propose a list of improvements for designs of future voting protocols.Comment: E-Vote-ID 2019 TalTech Proceeding

The Association of Weight loss, Weight status, and Abdominal Obesity with all-cause Mortality in Older Adults

International audienceObjectives: The objectives of this study were to examine whether weight loss, weight status (based on body mass index [BMI] categories), and abdominal obesity (based on waist circumference [WC]) were associated with a 17-year mortality risk in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: Participants were 2,017 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or above in the longitudinal Enquête de Santé Psychologique-Risques, Incidence et Traitement study. Self-reported weight loss was collected at baseline during face-to-face interviews. Bodyweight (kg), height (m), and WC (cm) were independently measured at the baseline. BMI was categorized as follows: underweight (BMI <18.5 kg/m2), normal weight (18.5–24.9 kg/m2), overweight (25–29.9 kg/m2), and obese (≥30 kg/m2). Abdominal obesity was defined by a WC of ≥102 cm in men and ≥88 cm in women. Adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine associations of weight loss, weight status, and abdominal obesity with all-cause mortality. Results: Over 17 years of follow-up (median 15.5 years), 812 participants died. Abdominal obesity compared to nonabdominal obesity was associated with a 49% increased mortality risk (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.22–1.83). However, being overweight (but not obese) was associated with a 20% decreased risk (95% CI: 0.66–0.97) compared to a normal BMI. Gender did not affect these associations. In the whole cohort, self-reported weight loss at baseline was not associated with an increased mortality risk after adjusting for health and lifestyle factors. However, in men, a baseline self-reported recent weight loss of >3 kg was associated with a 52% increase in mortality risk (95% CI: 1.05–2.18) in a fully adjusted model. Conclusion: In community-dwelling adults aged ≥65 years, abdominal obesity was strongly associated with increased mortality risk. Being overweight appeared, however, to be protective against mortality. Modest self-reported weight loss was not associated with all-cause mortality in community-dwelling older adults after adjusting for health and lifestyle factors. However, men reporting recent weight loss of more than 3 kg may be at increased risk. The findings of this study support the use of WC, rather than BMI, as a predictor of mortality risk in older adults

Engineering stories? A narratological approach to children's book apps

With the rise of smartphones and tablet pcs, children's book apps have emerged as a new type of children's media. While some of them are based on popular children's books such as Mo Willems’ Pigeon books or Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit, others were specifically designed as apps. This paper focuses on examining book apps under the aspects of implied user strategies and narrative structure. Using a narratological framework that also takes into account the unique characteristics of the medium, a terminology for the analysis of book apps will be sketched out. Furthermore, an exemplary analysis of iOS books apps for pre- and grade school children comes to the conclusion that, far from offering the child users room for individual creativity, a large number of apps rather train their users in following prescribed paths of reading