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In 1689, as Leibniz began to understand that contingent phenomena exist, he declared that they pulled him out of an “abyss.” What contributed decisively to this insight was not only infinitesimal calculus but also the novel, whose fictive worlds could be given the status of the possible, even if they had no place in the existing “series of the universe.” The result of the convergence of literature and mathematics prompted by Leibniz’s epistemic breakthrough included new practices of writing and of inventing possible worlds. We will take up these questions in the seminar beginning with Leibniz’s Theodicy and Blanckenburg’s Essay on the Novel (1774), followed by readings of selected novels from Wieland’s Agathon to Dorothea Schlegel’s Florentin as well as (more or less) fantastical shorter narratives from Goethe to Tieck. We will also consider theories of fiction and possible worlds from Doležel to Lamarque. Course taught by the Max Kade Visiting Professor Christiane Frey.