Since imaginative emotions are responses, they are deter mined by their imaginary objects. They arise out of, and are con trolled by, an understanding of the world. And to exercise this understanding is to take an interest in truth. The questions arise: are things really like that? Is it plausible? Is my response exaggerated? Am I being invited to feel what I should not feel? Such questions are the life of imagination, and also the death of fantasy, which as soon as its object is granted independent life or subjected to interrogation.