From tarot to role-playing, gardening to welcoming the departed, Nancy Murzilli has concocted a magical elixir, a narrative fountain of youth. – Yves Citton

Nancy Murzilli proposes, in this fascinating essay, that we be the prophets of our own lives. – Pierre Bayard

Our everyday fictions strike little bargains with the world around us.

Telling stories, playing pretend, acting, putting on our public persona, making plans, lying, raving, dreaming, talking to ghosts or to angels, communicating with plants or animals, reading our future in the cards or the stars, casting spells, writing novels… At first glance, these different practices are worlds apart. What they have in common is their use of fiction. Often perceived as an escape from reality, these mental exercises allow us to “know” and “act” without using our ordinary senses. They fall within the realm of the prophetic: they are able to make possible futures play out, through a thought experiment. Going far beyond the purely aesthetic value attributed to fiction, this book proposes to train the reader in performative fiction through the use of exercises, like a selfhelp book without the miracle cure – because here, the journey is as important as the destination.