Fact or Fiction the Dilemma of the Renaissance Storyteller: The Dilemma of the Renaissance Storyteller

Renaissance discussions of literature characteristically assume a posture of defense against the charge that making up stories is either mendacious or frivolous. William Nelson traces the history of that defensive attitude, examines the reasons for it, and considers its consequences for the nature and tone of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century fictitious narrative. In his study of shifting attitudes toward the invented story, the author surveys the period from classical times to the late seventeenth century, focusing on the Renaissance, when the need for defense seemed most urgent. Prefatory Note Contents Introduction I. From Fraud to Fiction II. The difference between fiction and history III. Fiction as Play IV. Hobgoblin and Apollo' s Garland V. The Flight from Fiction Index First edition. x , 121 pages. cloth, dust jacket.. small 8vo..