Realist Fiction

A selection from George Saunders in the Guardian:

Duke and StudAss were moved by this explanation. "George, wow," Duke said, "all this time we thought realism required maintaining a modicum of verisimilitude."

"But what you're suggesting," said StudAss, "is that the mimesis achieved is only a simulacrum, which creates a diversion, so the 'central metaphor' can more effectively do its imagistic work."