Does the discovery that "The Painted Bird" was a far more fictional work of fiction than Kosinski often suggested it was give readers who were moved by the book just cause for feeling cheated?
One response to this objection as far as fictional names like "Apollo", "Holmes", etc., are concerned is to reject descriptivism about ordinary names but endorse it for fictional names (see, for example, Currie (1990 158 62).
A far better fictional forerunner for these eager ice burrowers is Edgar Rice Burroughs, and his novels The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot, both filmed with dodgy special effects in the 1970s.
As far as fictional characters are concerned, I think my first instinct is to acquaint myself thoroughly with the text.
Not unconnected is the fact that Tyler has determinedly mined the same seam throughout her career, basing the vast majority of her novels in a Baltimore that seems far from the fictional landscape of The Wire or the non-fictional landscape of Serial.
Far from being fictional, James is Sarver, the lawyer protests.
While documentaries easily shift perspective, moving from one witness to the next, the scope of the movement has, so far, thwarted most fictional storytellers.
The voice on our radio that says that another tragic blow has fallen somewhere in the world seem far away and fictional.
Of the two stories that work outstandingly well, one ('Leaving the Yellow House') ventures rather far from the fictional territory that Bellow has marked out, being the story of an elderly and self-destructive dipsomaniac in the Far West.
That just goes to show how a little film about real-life heroes can resonate far better than fictional ones.
