...reality. "It is false that any representation is mistaken for reality; that any dramatic fable in its materiality was ever credible, or, for a single moment, was ever credited. . . . Imitations produce pain or pleasure, not because they are mistaken for realities, but because...

...unity of space with a recognition of the falsity of the usual neoclassical assumption of delusion. The objection arising from the impossibility of passing...really imagines himself at Alexandria, and believes his walk to the theater has been a voyage to Egypt, and that he lives in the days of Antony and Cleopatra....

...may be noted: (i) Johnson appeals to the imaginative basis of literature in attacking the unities: "The objection arising from the impossibility of passing...voyage to Egypt, and that he lives in the days of Anthony and Cleopatra. Surely he that imagines this may imagine more." And the Doctor goes on to give...

...false. It is false that any representation is mistaken for reality; that any dramatic fable in its materiality was ever credible, or for a single moment...himself at Alexandria and believes that his walk to the theater has been a voyage to Egypt and that he lives in the days of Antony and Cleopatra. Surely he...

...place. 'It is false that any representation is mistaken for reality; that any dramatick fable in its materiality was ever credible, or, for a single moment was ever credited.' Drama can only be credited, he says in a pregnant phrase, 'with all the credit due to drama'. Indeed,...

...self-contradiction: 'It is false, that any representation is mistaken for reality; that any dramatic fable in its materiality was ever credible, or, for a single moment, was ever credited,' and 'Delusion, if delusion be admitted, has no certain limitation.'18 Bethell set himself the task...

...After having asserted that no "representation is mistaken for realiiy," that no "dramatick fable in its materiality was ever credible, or, for a single moment, was ever credited," Johnson goes on to argue that credibility derives from the contemplation of the emotional effects:...

...observing the unities of time and place arises from the supposed necessity of making the drama credible. The objection arising from the impossibility of passing...voyage to Egypt, and that he lives in the days of Cleopatra . . . The truth is that the spectators are always in their senses and know, from the first...

...truth: 'It is false that any representation is mistaken for reality; that any dramatick fable in its materiality was ever credible, or, for a single moment, was ever credited' Johnson's position is given the appearance of weight by its absoluteness, in the words which I have...

...that '// is false, that any representation is mistaken for reality; that any dramatic fable in its materiality was ever credible, or, for a single moment, was ever credited' (my emphasis)3. In our own century, semioticians have refuted the Coleridgean position. In The Semiotics...