 Like "The Poetics of Plot", "Fictional Worlds" is critical of historicist generalizations.Discussing the notion of mimetic modes (high, low, ironic) which, according to Northrop Frye, replaced one another during the history of European fiction, Pavel argued that these three modes – and perhaps other modes as well – can be found in virtually all cultures and historical periods.In "L'Art de l'éloignement" ("The Art of Distance") (1996), his position became more nuanced.