Publisher's Synopsis
Fiction is a social phenomenon. It is a subject of wide interest in sociolinguistics and sociology, as well as the more obvious literary and cultural studies. It is of importance in education policymaking through the actual selection of teaching materials, as well as being a product of social practices.;In this work, the author shows how fiction works in the constitution and reproduction of social life. The book does not reduce fiction to a functional support for ideology, but considers that the greatest interest in fiction is as a source of pleasure. It discusses both "high" and "low" fiction, combining discussion of social context with language analysis. Examples are taken from children's tales, romance, horror and science fiction in the text's language analysis.
