Notes on Conceptual Fiction

Here's the original text of my essay from 2009 on the significance of non-realist fiction

From the manuscripts of Jules Verne (Wikimedia Commons)

1.

Is it possible that the idea of "realism" as a guiding principle for fiction is itself unrealistic? After all, there are no Newtonian laws in stories—an apple can just as easily fly upward from a tree as drop to the ground. Characters can ride a magic carpet as easily as walk. Any restrictions are…