Bordering reality: Character as juncture between text and extra-text

One of the most interesting fields in cultural studies is that of the relations between reality and fictionality, between the text and the extra-textual world. And of all the elements in a text, the one perceived as the most mimetic is character. Hence, the focus of interest of this essay is dual: firstly, the relation between reality and fictionality, the penetration of reality into the text and the illusory mimetic power; and secondly, but as importantly, the question, "What is character?" Although there are many studies dealing with character (all documented and analyzed in the first part of the paper), they do not answer this question. The model suggested here argues the dual functionality of the element: character, both within the text and on the intersection between text and extra-text. It is a model of functions and relations between elements, exposing the rhetorical, non-psychological feature of character. Because of its dual functionality, character is also the focus of the mimetic illusion. In the text, "character" is understood as a heading organized by a reader in the process of the act of reading. It is a sign, which also organizes sub-titles judged by the reader. The extent to which the extra-textual world of the reader participates in the reconstruction of meaning (as opposed to the extent to which the text manipulates it) is discussed in connection with a close reading of eight short stories. The second part of the paper focuses on three different kinds of relations between text and extra-text: a concept in real-life determining the textual model (the theme of exile in Hebrew literature determined by the concept of exile in history); a textual model determining the extra-textual concept (the Biblical prophets determining the concepts of history and nationality); and border line cases, which use both fictional and nonfictional codes, to create special kinds of commitment to truth value. In all cases, character turned out to be the major element in the intersection between the text and extra-text.