Literary Utopia, fiction and the possibility of the imaginary

Abstract

In literary studies, the use of the term fiction implies, in general, a movement that literature makes outside of the sensible or daily reality, its apprehension by sensibility supports the concept of verisimilitude theorized by Aristotle. Fiction takes off from reality and leaves it to itself, returning to it, afterward, with a new power of expression and expansion. The notion of literary utopia, developed by Norbert Elias in one of his studies, offers some elements that allow us to approach this movement of the imaginary and the idea of figuration proposed in his theories. Utopia, literally expressed, coincides with the moment in which the imaginary, abandoning sensible reality - which is biologically or socially determined -, is called into question as the language of the world and opens the way to the advent of the new and unknown. This paper aims to investigate in more detail the notion of literary utopia, in its relation to the concept of social figuration developed by Elias, seeking to bring it closer to the idea of fiction, in order to better understand better the relations between literary work and history and, in due time, imaginary and social configurations.