Semantic Limits of the Concept “Non-Fiction Book” Cover Image

Семантичні межі поняття «книга нон-фікшн»
Semantic Limits of the Concept “Non-Fiction Book”

Author(s): Anastasiia Zelinska
Subject(s): Literary Texts, Communication studies, Semantics, Theory of Literature
Published by: Інститут журналістики Київського національного університету імені Тараса Шевченка
Keywords: non-fiction book; documentaries; literature of fact;

Summary/Abstract: In this study, the author proposed a terminologisation of the concept “non-fiction book” in the framework of Ukrainian theory of publishing. The relevance of the study is stipulated by the emergence in Ukrainian publishing space of the concept “non-fiction book”, which is widely used by publishers, authors, booksellers, literary managers and readers, while the term “non-fiction book” is not clearly defined in Ukrainian academic sphere and is absent in Ukrainian dictionaries. The main objectives of the study are: to summarize results of interdisciplinary discussions over the concept “non-fiction” in Ukrainian and foreign scientific discourses; to clarify the features and peculiarities of different professional approaches; and to define the semantic framework for interpretation of the concept “non-fiction book” in Ukrainian publishing.In the study, the author applied the following research methods: bibliographical method (to study the literature sources); conceptual analysis (to work out the basic terms and concepts); analysis and synthesis (to study the nature of the usage of terms and to identify their features); synthesis (to shape the own definition of the concept “non-fiction”). Having considered the various foreign definitions of the term “non-fiction”, the author came to the conclusions that it is predominantly used in two major senses – a broad and a narrow. In a broader sense, “non-fiction” is a literature that does not contain an artistic fiction. In this sense the term is widely used by the booksellers, authors and readers. In a narrow sense, ‘non-fiction” is a literature that is based on real events, documents, facts and biographies, interpreted by the author through artistic means without distorting the actual events of the story. The concept “non-fiction book” refers to the publications, the content of which is based not only on documents and facts, but also includes the author's interpretation. The proposed terminologisation of the concept “non-fiction book” in the framework of Ukrainian theory of publishing can be used in further academic research in the relevant fields of study.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 18
  • Page Range: 62-73
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Ukrainian