An Explication of “Willing Suspension of Disbelief” with a Focus on Roald Dahl’s Novels
Author : Dr. P Thiyagarajan and Dr. R Adhithya
Abstract :
This paper proposes to testify S.T. Coleridge’s concept ‘Willing Suspension of Disbelief’ in his seminal work Biographia Literaria. This concept is testified or evaluated with the reference to Roald Dahl’s novels Charlie and Chocolate factory and James and the Giant Peach. It explicates the said notion ‘Willing Suspension of Disbelief’. This paper attempts to provide overall details of the works for this comprehensive work related to the fictitious, imaginative and magical world created by Dahl. The central focus of this paper is to show how the authors create the mind-set of the readers while reading fantasy and magical world created through the works. Obviously, as readers we forget the real world and enter into the magical world and suspending our disbelief and begin to think what we read is happening at the present moment. Further the paper provides the instances where this happens while reading the above said works of Dahl.
Keywords :
Willing Suspension of Disbelief, Fantasy, supernatural elements, wish fulfilment.
