fiction in the widest usage, whatever contrasts with what is a matter of fact. As applied to works of fiction, however, this is not the appropriate contrast. For a work of fiction, such as a historical novel, might turn out to be true regarding its historical subject, without ceasing to be fiction. The correct contrast of fiction is to non-fiction. If a work of fiction might turn out to be true, how is ‘fiction’ best defined? According to some philosophers, such as Searle, the writer of nonfiction performs illocutionary speech acts, such as asserting that such-and-such occurred, whereas the writer of fiction characteristically only pretends to perform these illocutionary acts. Others hold that the core idea to which appeal should be made is that of making-believe or imagining certain states of affairs. Kendall Walton (Mimesis as Make-Believe, 1990), for instance, holds that a work of fiction is to be construed in terms of a prop whose function is to serve in games of make-believe. Both kinds of theory allow for the possibility that a work of fiction might turn out to be true. See also AESTHETICS , IMAGINATION , PHILOSOPHY OF LITERATURE , SPEECH ACT THEORY. B.Ga.