Referential density

<p>Referential density is a concept of ficto-narrative theory put forward by <a href="/facts/Thomas_Pavel/6GhENP6b">Thomas G. Pavel</a> in his 1986 book, <i>Fictional Worlds</i>. The concept refers to the referential relationship of a text to a <a href="/facts/Fictional_universe/ESj2DCy2">fictional world</a>, the <a href="/facts/Ontology/QJKTsEIJ">ontology</a> of which can be established by a <a href="/facts/Possible_world/6jr7P8jV">possible worlds</a> approach. A large text that refers to a small fictional world is said to have low referential density, whereas a small text referring to a large fictional world has high referential density. The size of the text is measured in abstract terms as amplitude, which in most cases will correspond to its physical length; exceptions to this may arise in cases of embedded discourses, such as <a href="/facts/Metanarratives/x96mkbXV">metanarratives</a> (or imaging digressions), which refer to the actual world. For this reason, the form and <a href="/facts/Genre/ow1Po53X">genre</a> of a fictional work provide only an approximate indication of its size; by the same token, it is possible to refer to the size and referential density of part of a fictional work. The size of a fictional world, in turn, is measured in terms of the sum total of properties applicable to the objects and agents inhabiting the fictional world.
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Referential density open-in-new

Referential density