POSSIBLE WORLDS IN FREDRIK BACKMAN’S A MAN CALLED OVE: A COGNITIVE POETICS APPROACH

The present paper attempts to address Fredrik Backman's plot development in his debut, A Man Called Ove (۲۰۱۴), focusing on projected private worlds of characters. To explore the process of creating these personal worlds, this study will focus on Marie-Laure Ryan's ideas, a critical theorist in 'Possible Worlds Theory,' one of the orientations in cognitive poetics. Considering Backman's novel, the writer projected numerous possible worlds, and these worlds are in conflicts either within the boundaries of private worlds of characters or textual actual world (henceforth TAW) of the story. These interactions are of paramount importance and contribute to what Ryan calls 'tellability,' making Backman's condition possible to narrate his story. Central to my analysis is the novel's protagonist, Ove. He has his own particular private worlds, and these personal worlds are in conflict either with other characters' private worlds or with TAW in general. The novel's focus is primarily on Ove's both Intention World and Wish World to commit suicide, but this study will conclude that these interactions of possible worlds in the novel change Ove's characterizations at the end of the novel. The present article also demonstrates that strange private worlds, especially those of Ove, and their external interactions with other worlds create a sense of humor throughout the novel.

Keywords:

Possible Worlds , Fredrik Backman , tellability , cognitive poetics , A Man Called Ove