FactGrid:Prose fiction data model

All properties for publications

• all FactGrid properties for publications (Q77484)

• bibliographical core data (Q100931)
• contexts of other publications (genre, stemma etc.) (Q100932)
• language and content (Q77485)
• financial details on an edition (Q100933)
• fiction and dubious histories (Q221312)

Physical description

Google Books ID wd:P525 to link directly to a Google Books Digitisation P675 MDZ ID wd:P526 to link BSB (Bavarian State Library) digitisations on the MDZ-identifier answer on wd:P65 to state the text that triggered this reply wd:P205 answered with answered with wd:P205 the reply that answers the present item wd:P65 answer on autopsy by wd:P411 to state those who saw a document or object begin of composition wd:P39 use this property if a document has been written over a longer period of time co-author wd:P511 an author who contributed to a work collation wd:P543 to state the individual parts of a book from title page and preface to index commissioned by wd:P273 for the person or institution who commissioned a work composer wd:P539 the author of a piece of music contribution wd:P553 to state specific contributions (e.g. introduction) to a compound work contributor wd:P410 to name those who contributed to a work wd:P167 contributor to date as stated wd:P96 Qualifier for P106 and P222 date of artefact wd:P536 e.g. to state the date of the manuscript copy (different from the date that may be given in the text) date of composition wd:P412 use if a text for instance was composed far earlier than the copy extant date of disputation wd:P392 Date in the public dissertation date of publication according to imprint wd:P222 The standard date as taken from a title page. Use P96 if you know the exact day, week, or month of the publication P577 dedicatee wd:P391 the person who is being offered the dedication wd:Q101974 digest in English wd:P75 use this to give a short digest of the text in English digest in German wd:P72 use this to give a short digest of the text in German edited by wd:P176 to state the editor(s) of a publication wd:P305 editor of events mentioned wd:P532 to refer to Items that have a P2-event statement exlibris wd:P413 state whose Exlibris is found in a book formed a set with wd:P409 to name objects that originally belonged together genre wd:P568 to note a wider tradition of works in which similar sujets are treated with the same techniques i.e. wd:P110 property to use as a qualifier, e.g. if an authorship is stated under a pseudonym. installment of wd:P441 to name for instance the periodical of which this is an individual number institution signing responsible wd:P66 e.g. a company behind a letter institutions mentioned wd:P232 state institutions mentioned in a document inter-textual allusions wd:P574 to state implicit references to other texts; use P116 for other texts that are actually mentioned listed in wd:P124 to refer to bibliographies and catalogues that noted the object (especially useful on lost items) wd:Q9082 online transcript wd:P69 state the URL of an online transcript of a document opponent of the disputation wd:P390 Role in the early modern dissertation process original to this wd:P114 to state the original in a group of versions of the same page layout wd:P481 see the items for this property for possible answers. part of the collection wd:P123 to state a collection to which an item belongs or belonged. (See also P323 to state the next higher level of archival integration) place as (strangely) stated wd:P111 for the exact spelling and name of a place name. Can be combined with a qualifying P110 and P113 statement places of action wd:P566 property to be used especially on novels and plays preceding in stemma wd:P233 use conservatively to connect to preceding in genealogy or development preface by wd:P179 to state the author of the preface to a publication presented at wd:P237 the event at which a paper or play was presented presented by wd:P264 someone who presents e.g. a speech, not necessary the author P823 presiding the disputation wd:P388 to name the professor presiding the (early modern) dissertation wd:Q101974 printed by wd:P207 to name the company that printed a publication prospective audience wd:P573 to note specific audiences addressed protagonists who also appear in other works wd:P567 to name people who appear in different works (novels, plays, paintings) published by wd:P206 the company or person publishing the item published in wd:P64 refers to publication wd:P254 publishes P1433 publisher as misleadingly stated wd:P544 e.g. Pierre Marteau, Cologne publishes wd:P254 state documents published in a book wd:P64 published in wd:Q11367 publishing interval wd:P292 the publishing interval of a periodical quality / occupation of the central protagonists wd:P569 property especially for novels and plays quality of author identification wd:P561 use on documents and publications to state the reliability or apparent deficits of the statements given on the object quality of date information wd:P563 use on documents and publications to state the reliability or apparent deficits of the statements given on the object quality of place identification wd:P562 use on documents and publications to state the reliability or apparent deficits of the statements given on the object quality of publisher identification wd:P564 use on documents and publications to state the reliability or apparent deficits of the statements given on the object quoting wd:P306 to state text(s) that are quoted by the object in question reception promises (literal) wd:P570 to state the literal promises of why one should read the text, see the play reception promises (standardised) wd:P571 in addition to P570 a statement of language equivalents recording, online information wd:P541 website on a recording of a piece of music respondent of the disputation wd:P389 role in the early modern dissertation process reviewing wd:P308 to list reviews in a journal etc. wd:P135 reviewed in self-statement on historicity / fictionality wd:P565 use especially on novels and dubious histories of the early modern period to note the integration into the fields of histories and romances sets ordered wd:P542 to state the number of copies ordered in a subscription subscribers wd:P275 to state people who subscribed e.g. on a book publication (complete lists should be rather generated and linked) sujet wd:P576 to classify the plot of works of art and fictional texts technical realisation wd:P518 to state who did the technical work in a project text opening, transcript wd:P70 to quote the opening of a text (that has no title) things mentioned wd:P256 use widely for everything mentioned except people title wd:P11 to state the title of a document P1476 topic wd:P243 the central object of a work P921 transcribed by wd:P68 to name those who transcribed a text (on FactGrid) translation into German wd:P71 state translations of a text into German type of publication wd:P144 classification in a typology: whether a publication is a monograph, periodical, article in a periodical etc. <https://tinyurl.com/vkht3yh> type of title focus wd:P572 For example, a person, an event, a moral can be in the foreground. If there is more than one information, add successively under P499 qualifiers type of work (standardised) wd:P121 Use this property to organise works according to types of production

Some notes on our specific properties for prose fiction and dubious histories

A number of properties are already used for straight texts:

Looking at title pages and plots

Early modern titles are, however, with their extended titles, prefaces and dedications ofter often quite explicit on a number of particular aspects. Use here:

1. Type of title focus (P572) — to state whether a title is selling a particular person's story or something quite different
2. Type of work (as stated) (P4) — to state a self-classification in the respective language
3. Type of work (standardised) (P121) — to state the self-classification in a statement for all languages on FactGrid
4. Prospective audience P573 — to state who is specifically addressed as readership
5. Reception promises (literal) (P570) — to mark the advertised reading gratification
6. Reception promises (standardised) (P571) — to mark the advertised reading gratification with a statement that will be valid in all the languages used on FactGrid
7. Dedicatee (P391) — to name the person(s) addressed in the dedication
8. Reported event (P19) — to name events portrayed in the text
9. Begin of events reported (P545) — to date the beginning of a historical narrative
10. End of events reported (P46) — to date the end of a historical narrative
11. Protagonists who also appear in other works (P567) — to name protagonists who also appear in other works of art and fiction
12. Persons mentioned (P33) — to state other persons mentioned in a text, for instance rivaling authors
13. Quality / occupation of the central protagonists (P569) — to state the social status of the protagonists
14. Genre (P568) — to state typical worlds of fictional texts
15. Sujet (P576) — to state common stories of fictional texts
16. Texts mentioned (P116) — to state open references to other texts
17. Inter-textual allusions (P574) — to state implicit references to other texts

Looking at responsibilities as stated or rejected

The early modern production of fiction (and dubious histories) was not only discredited by most contemporary scholars as baseless and scandalous if not dangerous with its power to delude and to incite lechery. It was also statistically marginal and published often with a deliberate irresponsibility designed to deserve the criticism. The following properties and statements give the basic options:

Quality of author identification Property:P561 Quality of place identification — Property:P562 Quality of publisher identification — Property:P564 Quality of date information — Property:P563

the following Items are prepared for the optional statements "transparently stated" — Item:Q221316 "obviously misleading statement" — Item:Q221317 "misleading but plausible statement" — Item:Q221318 "without statement" — Item:Q221319 "states where sold, instead of specifying the place of production" — Item:Q221320 "publisher hides behind partners" — Item:Q221321

The shrouding of responsibilities is symptomatic of the low prestige — this was not "literature", the realm of academic learning, with its high prestige. It is, at the same moment a result of the irresponsibility that made it attractive to enter this particular market: fictional histories spread fashions to the delight of the young elites and it opened branches of irresponsible interaction in the centre of the belles lettres, the realm where history gained an increasing public attention outside the limitations of of academic learning.

Placing romances and novels in the wider sphere of (scandalous) histories

The integration into the historical, apparent in practically all the contemporary book catalogues, came in two opposing directions — to the left and to the right of the following spectrum. Authors and publishers could either pretend to offer nothing but "romantic fictions", "feigned histories" — with publications that smelled of a concealed deeper truth. Keys were often published separately to trigger the scandalous exposures. The alternative came with titles that defended the historicity of the strangely unbelievable account. Both options depended on a centre of fictional titles that would be be read as such. Here the authors observed a tension between "high", "heroic" performances and "low" "satirical" sujets (not to be confused with the tensions between elegant books of the belles lettres and the cheap production of popular chap books).

A central production existed in the heart of this spectrum: The production of modern "novels" that would avoid the stereotypes of the heroic and the satirical genres. It is this the centre that propagated the term "novel" in English with its alternative of "intrigues" rather than "adventures":

items to be used on P565		Item:Q221324 Heroical Romances: Fénelon's Telemach (1699)
Q221322 Sold as romantic inventions, read as true histories of public affairs: Manley's New Atalantis (1709)	Q221323 Sold as romantic inventions, read as true histories of private affairs: Menantes' Satyrischer Roman (1706)	Q221325 Classics of the novel from the Arabian Nights to M. de La Fayette's Princesse de Clèves (1678)	Q221327 Sold as true private history, risking to be read as romantic invention: Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719)	Q221323 Sold as true public history, risking to be read as romantic invention: La Guerre d'Espagne (1707)
		Q221326 Satirical Romances: Cervantes' Don Quixote (1605)

Developments towards the modern market of "literary" works and artistic achievements versus "low" belles lettres

The options did not really disappear; they live on in the spheres of genre-driven "popular fictions" with their broad range from sex and pornography to crime, fantasy and espionage in highest political spheres. The irresponsibility of the entire sphere disappeared, however, in the light of the critical appraisal which secondary discourses began to offer to a new "high" field of works of new "literary merits". The critical discourses whicch pushed fiction, plays and poetry into the sphere of serious "literature" focused on a new tension between reality and art and demanded a singular and provocative perspective which only true artists could offer. The ensuing debates made it profitable for fiction to be published as fiction — with a short title and the words "a novel", that would automatically call for a critical appraisal of authorial effort to transform reality into a work of art — so the fundamental descandalisation. The new scandal would be one within the sphere of "great literary works" and "finest works of art", so the strategic move that ended the previous debates of fiction in the middle of the historical production. "National literatures" emerged to form national debates; a "low" and "trivial" production would continue the success of the early modern market and serve as the backdrop against which true literature would have to show its merits.

This is more a development to be shown in a wider context of secondary debates discovering early modern prose fiction as an interesting object to discuss — between the 1750s and the 1850s.