ABSTRACT
Counterfactuals are figures of speech that can be introduced in a variety of discourse types for a range of interesting purposes and effects, and depend on duality for achieving the effects. In the case of counterfactuals, duality is encoded in two contrasting scenarios, one viewed as actual, and one viewed as "counterfactual" with respect to the actual scenario. Literature presents one of the most resonant and evocative discourse situations of them all, so it is no surprise that counterfactuals play an interesting and important role in literary narrative. Many literary texts are fictional, so the distinction between "actual" and "unrealized" scenarios in fiction is best understood as a type of narrative embedding in which one version of narrative events differs from an alternative version of events with a different narrative status. Counterfactuals play a significant role in many discourse types, including literature, where they often play a crucial role in the development of literary meaning, and foster readers' engagement.
