The Morality of Fiction

Abstract

This thesis is an investigation into the morality of fiction, which consists in the exploration of the complex connection between art and ethics. The purpose it to consider the presence of moral discourse in creative writing and the importance of taking it into consideration in literary criticism. The aim of this study is to re-adapt the claims of ethical criticism to a growing complex modernity following the tenets of John Krapp’s responsible ethical criticism. Indeed, the latter developed a new approach to ethical criticism through avoiding an oversimplified and monological treatment of texts, and establishing a balance between the ethical and the aesthetic dimensions. This work thus provides a study of six novels from English, American and African literatures, ensuring thus a diversity of socio-historical contexts to provide our claims for morality in literature with a broader relevance.