Towards a new understanding of absorbing reading experiences

M Kuijpers, F Hakemulder, K Balint, MM Doicaru, E Tan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterScientificpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

When reading literary narratives, we assume that readers can get absorbed in the story world and in the story's artifice. Since most absorption research focuses primarily on popular media, virtually no attention has been paid to the possibility that literary devices such as deviation could elicit absorption experiences or that absorption could be aesthetic in nature. This chapter takes an interdisciplinary approach combining insights from media psychology, literary studies, and aesthetics to present a theoretical framework for two different varieties of narrative aesthetic absorption during reading: story world absorption and artifact absorption. We propose that these varieties mirror the distinction made by narratologists between story and discourse and the distinction made by emotion psychologists between F and A emotions.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNarrative absorption
EditorsF Hakemulder, M Kuijpers, E Tan, K Balint, MM Doicaru
Place of PublicationAmsterdam
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publisher Company
Pages29-47
Number of pages19
ISBN (Electronic)9789027265135
ISBN (Print)9789027234162
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Publication series

NameLinguistic Approaches to Literature
Volume27
ISSN (Print)1569-3112

Keywords

  • Artifact absorption
  • Foregrounding
  • Literature
  • Narrative
  • Reading experience
  • Story world absorption

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