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A theory of expressive reading

  • Don Kuiken
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Directions in Empirical Literary Studies
This chapter is in the book Directions in Empirical Literary Studies

Abstract

Whether justified by the “affective fallacy” or the “death of the subject,” challenges to expressivist theories of literary reading have been persuasive. What seems lacking is theory that respects the fragility of felt meanings and the vitality found in their uncovering. Addressing this lack requires articulation of how feeling expression unfolds over time, has the character of disclosure, and simultaneously brings feelings and their intentional objects to presence. Without detracting from expressive disclosure, it is also critical to acknowledge the limits of expressibility – and that expressive reading gestures toward the mood of that which cannot be brought to presence.

Abstract

Whether justified by the “affective fallacy” or the “death of the subject,” challenges to expressivist theories of literary reading have been persuasive. What seems lacking is theory that respects the fragility of felt meanings and the vitality found in their uncovering. Addressing this lack requires articulation of how feeling expression unfolds over time, has the character of disclosure, and simultaneously brings feelings and their intentional objects to presence. Without detracting from expressive disclosure, it is also critical to acknowledge the limits of expressibility – and that expressive reading gestures toward the mood of that which cannot be brought to presence.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction ix
  4. Part I. Theoretical and philosophical perspectives
  5. Studying literature and being empirical: A multifaceted conjunction 7
  6. Empirical research into the processing of free indirect discourse and the imperative of ecological validity 21
  7. Notes toward a new philology 35
  8. A theory of expressive reading 49
  9. Part II. Psychology, foregrounding and literature
  10. Textual and extra-textual manipulations in the empirical study of literary response 75
  11. Foregrounding and feeling in response to narrative 89
  12. Two levels of foregrounding in literary narratives 103
  13. Narrative empathy and inter-group relations 113
  14. Effects of reading on knowledge, social abilities, and selfhood: Theory and empirical studies 127
  15. Imagining what could happen: Effects of taking the role of a character on social cognition 139
  16. Part III. Computers and the humanities
  17. An automated text analysis: Willie Van Peer's academic contributions 161
  18. Computationally Discriminating Literary from Non-Literary Texts 175
  19. Metaphors and software-assisted cognitive stylistics 193
  20. Searching for style in modern American poetry 211
  21. The laws governing the history of poetry 229
  22. Consolidating empirical method in data-assisted stylistics: Towards a corpus-attested glossary of literary terms. 243
  23. Part IV. REDES Project: The new generation
  24. Empirical evaluation: Towards an automated index of lexical variety 271
  25. Language allergy: Myth or reality 283
  26. Proper names in the translation of The Lord of the Rings 297
  27. Threat and geographical distance: the case of North Korea 309
  28. The Apology of Popular Fiction: Everyday Uses of Literature in Poland 317
  29. Afterword. A Matter of versifying: Tradition, innovation and the sonnet form in English 329
  30. About the contributors 343
  31. Index of authors 351
  32. Index of keywords 355
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.5.06kui

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction ix
  4. Part I. Theoretical and philosophical perspectives
  5. Studying literature and being empirical: A multifaceted conjunction 7
  6. Empirical research into the processing of free indirect discourse and the imperative of ecological validity 21
  7. Notes toward a new philology 35
  8. A theory of expressive reading 49
  9. Part II. Psychology, foregrounding and literature
  10. Textual and extra-textual manipulations in the empirical study of literary response 75
  11. Foregrounding and feeling in response to narrative 89
  12. Two levels of foregrounding in literary narratives 103
  13. Narrative empathy and inter-group relations 113
  14. Effects of reading on knowledge, social abilities, and selfhood: Theory and empirical studies 127
  15. Imagining what could happen: Effects of taking the role of a character on social cognition 139
  16. Part III. Computers and the humanities
  17. An automated text analysis: Willie Van Peer's academic contributions 161
  18. Computationally Discriminating Literary from Non-Literary Texts 175
  19. Metaphors and software-assisted cognitive stylistics 193
  20. Searching for style in modern American poetry 211
  21. The laws governing the history of poetry 229
  22. Consolidating empirical method in data-assisted stylistics: Towards a corpus-attested glossary of literary terms. 243
  23. Part IV. REDES Project: The new generation
  24. Empirical evaluation: Towards an automated index of lexical variety 271
  25. Language allergy: Myth or reality 283
  26. Proper names in the translation of The Lord of the Rings 297
  27. Threat and geographical distance: the case of North Korea 309
  28. The Apology of Popular Fiction: Everyday Uses of Literature in Poland 317
  29. Afterword. A Matter of versifying: Tradition, innovation and the sonnet form in English 329
  30. About the contributors 343
  31. Index of authors 351
  32. Index of keywords 355
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