The Powers of Fiction and the Conversation with the Dead

Authors

  • Jürgen Pieters University of Ghent

Abstract

This paper deals with the topic of the conversation with the dead, taken as a shorthand for the practice of literary history. In previous publications, Pieters tried to outline a number of important issues that can be subsumed under this topic, all of them revolving around the idea that literary texts are supreme sources of what is called the historical experience. In this paper, he addresses the question which textual mechanism (if any) procures this specific and special literary-historical experience.

Author Biography

  • Jürgen Pieters , University of Ghent

    Jürgen Pieters teaches literary theory at the University of Ghent in Belgium. His book publications include Moments of Negotiation. The New Historicism of Stephen Greenblatt (Amsterdam UP, 2001) and Speaking with the dead. Explorations in Literature and History (Edinburgh UP, 2005). An expanded version of the latter book is available in Dutch: De tranen van de herinnering. Het gesprek met de doden (Historische Uitgeverij, 2005). He is currently preparing a Dutch volume on the theory and practice of literary history. Pieters is on the editorial board of Feit en Fictie.

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Published

2026-05-04

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 1 (2006): Diversen

Section

Main Section

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Pieters , J. (2026). The Powers of Fiction and the Conversation with the Dead. FRAME, Journal of Literary Studies, 19(1), 5-17. https://platform.openjournals.nl/FRAME/article/view/27522