Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter 1
2. Editorial 2
3. Contents 5
4. List of Abbreviations 7
5. List of Tables 9
6. Introduction
7. Short Summaries 18
8. A Theory on Characters
9. Larger and Lesser Than Life 28
10. Diagnosing Characters? 33
11. How Readers Recognise Concepts in Literature 40
12. Chasing a Phantom
13. Stereotypes and Knowledge 48
14. Stereotypes in Reading 51
15. Autism Stereotypes 55
16. Autism Stereotypes Portrayed in Fiction 71
17. Normality and Deviance
18. Discourses of the Public 85
19. Normality and Deviance 92
20. Labelling 101
21. Deviance in Fiction – The London Eye Mystery 105
22. Deviance and Mental Health 111
23. Identification and Representation
24. Young Adult Fiction and Normality 117
25. ‘Realistic’ and ‘Good’ Portrayals 124
26. Who Gets to Narrate Autism? 127
27. The Narrative of Theory of Mind – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time 132
28. The Importance and Risks of Autism Narrative 144
29. The Medical Discourse of Autism
30. Diagnostic Criteria and Symptoms 153
31. Definitions of Autism in Fiction 159
32. High- and Low-functioning? 168
33. Masking and Camouflaging 174
34. Masking and Camouflaging in Autism Portrayals 179
35. Narrating Autism
36. Visual Rhetoric and Semiotics 189
37. Pragmatics 197
38. Pragmatic Competence and Deviance in Autism Portrayals 205
39. Unreliable Narrators? 227
40. Niches, Genres, and Roles – Trueman Bradley 235
41. Conclusion 241
42. Appendices 253
43. Literary Works 267
44. Index 283