A comprehensive study by one of its leading exponents of central issues in the philosophy of literature, including the idea of literature as art, the nature and ontology of literary works, the status of the author, the modes and assessment of literary interpretation, the nature of fiction and fictional characters, the role of truth and knowledge in the appreciation of literature, and the basis for literary evaluation. Throughout the book philosophical discussion is illustrated with examples from poems, novels and drama of all periods. The book not only presents and analyses a range of views on these and other topics but also develops its own distinctive point of view. What emerges is a definitive and authoritative characterisation of a relatively new but increasingly influential branch of aesthetics.