The Experientiality of Narrative: An Enactivist Approach
31 Jan 2014-Vol. 43
TL;DR: The authors studied the dynamics underlying readers' responses to narrative through close readings of literary texts and theoretical discussion in ways that shed light on the deep connection between narrative, literary fiction, and human experience.
Abstract: How do readers experience literary narrative? Drawing on narrative theory, cognitive science, and the philosophy of mind, this book offers a principled account of the dynamics underlying readers' responses to narrative Through its interdisciplinary approach, this study combines close readings of literary texts and theoretical discussion in ways that shed light on the deep connection between narrative, literary fiction, and human experience
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22 Nov 2018
TL;DR: In this paper, a new reading of texts that initially seem to be uncommunicative is proposed, bringing into correlation the enactivist idea of cognition without content, elaborated by Daniel D. Hutto and Eric Myin, with the idea that cut-up narratives in a sense also have no content.
Abstract: Abstract In the early 1960 s Brion Gysin, while experimenting in various genres and media, “re-invented” the cut-up technique that first had appeared in the 1910-1920s in Dadaists art practices. The accidental selection of texts’ or visuals’ fragments and the randomness in their combination in cut-ups were aimed to represent multiple experiences occupying the human mind. Methodologically I draw upon “natural” narratology developed by Monika Fludernik, who redefines narrativity in terms of experientiality. Correspondingly, cut-up technique can be regarded as a means of representing human perception and other mental processes (unobservable directly), especially by mapping the simultaneity of external observations and internal reflections that exist in constant relationships between minds and their environments. The paper brings into correlation the enactivist idea of cognition without content, elaborated by Daniel D. Hutto and Eric Myin, with the idea that cut-up narratives in a sense also have no content. As there are no consistent and coherent story in cut-ups, there could be difficult for the reader to produce a clear mental representation of what is happening in the text. My paper proposes a new reading of texts that initially seem to be uncommunicative.
2 citations
Cites background or result from "The Experientiality of Narrative: A..."
...Enactive approach to narrative in contrast to the text-centered approaches is concerned with interactions between the organism and its environment, the embodied nature of such interactions (Caracciolo 2014: 16–20)....
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...On the other hand, there are explorations of readers’ perceptions and ‘processings’ of literary work that inquire into why and how people read fiction (Zunshine 2006; Caracciolo 2014)....
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...…approach within a single framework, but rather, offer several areas of research hypotheses about how real minds work support, enrich and help in understanding fictional minds (e. g. Palmer 2004; Zunshine 2006; Herman 2009, Herman 2010 and Herman 2011 a; Bernaerts et al 2013; Caracciolo 2014)....
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TL;DR: The authors argue that the inferential work cued by implicature creates an intersubjective dynamic analogous to what philosophers Zahavi and Rochat discuss under the heading of experiential sharing.
Abstract: How can providing less textual information about a fictional character make his or her mind more transparent and accessible to the reader? This is the question that emerges from an empirical study of reader response conducted by Kotovych et al. Taking my cue from this study, I discuss the role of implied information in readers’ interactions with characters in prose fiction. This is the textual strategy I call ‘character-centered implicature.’ I argue that the inferential work cued by implicature creates an intersubjective dynamic analogous to what philosophers Zahavi and Rochat discuss under the heading of ‘experiential sharing.’ Effectively, readers complement the textual evocation of mind by drawing on their own past experiences, which leads to a distinctive first-person plural (‘we’) perspective—a sharing of cognitive resources that is responsible for the perceived transparency of the character’s mind. While this experiential sharing may result in empathetic perspective-taking, not all instances of empathy for fictional characters involve sharing.
2 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , Barnard's model of the interactions between theory and practice, between basic and applied research, is used to investigate the paradox of reading as an experience both private and public.
Abstract: This article draws on Philip Barnard's model of the interactions between theory and practice, between basic and applied research, to investigate the paradox of reading as an experience both private and public. It uses internal reader experience as a starting point for exploration, evoking the concept of a readerly sense of presence as a selection criterion. Investigating chapters in two novels for young readers, Northern Lights (The Golden Compass) by Philip Pullman and The Moffats by Eleanor Estes, and drawing on cognitive models of reading, it analyzes the textual constructs that set up a potential for the kind of enactive resonance that enables (though does not mandate) a sense of presence. It investigates the methodological implications of an enhanced sense of reading as a non-reproducible experience and considers the policy and pedagogical implications of not restricting public concepts of reading to what can be readily measured or repeated.
2 citations
10 Sep 2020
TL;DR: This article explored the history and theory of emotional appeals in literary journalism, and offered an analysis of the stylistic strategies of emotive Swiss literary journalist Erwin Koch, who succeeded in eliciting both strong emotion and critical acclaim by using a condensed yet distanced narrative style, which was particularly effective at mirroring his subjects' experience of being in the world.
Abstract: Journalism research broadly has begun to acknowledge a fact long accepted in the field of literary journalism: that emotional engagement can be an advantageous trait of a reported story. But there is still much to learn about how journalistic texts facilitate emotional involvement in readers. This article adds to this body of knowledge in two ways. It explores the history and theory of emotional appeals in literary journalism, and it offers an analysis of the stylistic strategies of emotive Swiss literary journalist Erwin Koch. Koch succeeds in eliciting both strong emotion and critical acclaim by using a condensed yet distanced narrative style, which is particularly effective at mirroring his subjects’ experience of being in the world. Through analysis of Koch’s work and its reception, this article offers insight into the nature of immersive reading experiences and points to opportunities for future research on the topic of affect in literary journalism.
2 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that Plato's discussion of poetry in the Republic, unanimously criticized by modern scholars, can enrich Ricoeur's concept of mimesis, which does not harmonize with the focus on consciousness in cognitive narratology.
Abstract:
Ricoeur's Time and Narrative is duly cited in footnotes but does not seem to have had a strong impact on anglophone narratology. One of the reasons for this is certainly Ricoeur's emphasis on plot, which does not harmonize with the focus on consciousness in cognitive narratology. This article suggests that a reconsideration of the concept of mimesis could help build a bridge between Ricoeur's phenomenological approach and cognitive studies in narrative. More specifically, it argues that Plato's discussion of poetry in the Republic, unanimously criticized by modern scholars, can enrich Ricoeur's concept of mimesis. While Ricoeur follows Aristotle, who ties mimesis to plot, Plato, in Republic 2 and 3, considers mimesis an act of impersonation and thereby paves the way to the level of character, on which cognitive narratologists tend to focus. This article first offers a new reading of the Republic's examination of poetry, trying to show that Plato's account of the effects of poetry on the listeners’ souls resonates with current cognitive approaches. Equipped with this reading, it then turns to Ricoeur again. Ricoeur's description of mimesis III, the reader's adoption of the narrative configuration of time in life, remains vague and abstract. Through its focus on the impact of characters on audiences, Plato's idea of mimesis permits us to integrate a cognitivist perspective into Ricoeur's phenomenological account.
2 citations