Literary Fiction

from unlimited intertextuality to textual proteicity

Abstract

The concept of fiction is transversal to any area of ​​literary studies, but at the same time it’s hard to establish and define it in epistemological terms. Hence the importance of the opposition between fiction and non-fiction. The objective of this article is to highlight the differences that exist between literary fiction and factual discourses in terms of intertextual possibilities. While non fiction is characterized by having limited intertextual capacities, literary fiction, freed from any rigid subjection to the real world, is characterized by having a potentially unlimited intertextual generation capacity. Here it will be also argued that this capacity makes fiction able to go far beyond the traditional limits of intertextuality and makes it able to be (or at least try to be) other non-fictional texts. This is what we call “textual proteicity”.