According to the Genre Theory of Fiction (Friend 2012), there are no essential features distinguishing fiction from non-fiction; in particular, there is no necessary connection between non-fiction and accuracy or the invitation to believe. A frequent criticism of the theory is that it undermines the justification for criticising works of non-fiction that play fast and loose with the facts. I defend the Genre Theory from this objection, arguing that it misidentifies the justification for criticising misrepresentations in non-fiction (as well as fiction).
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University of Reading