Personal relevance in story reading: a research review.

TY - JOUR

T1 - Personal relevance in story reading: a research review.

AU - Kuzmicov, Anezka

AU - Balint, Katalin

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - In the past century, emotional responses to literary narratives were regarded as unsystematic, personal and unphilosophical, and therefore largely excluded from scholarly discourse. With the recent cognitive turn in the humanities (Kukkonen & Caracciolo 2014; Caracciolo 2016), however, scholars are increasingly willing to consider the question of actual readers’ responses to literary texts. Theories of emotions in reading have become more sophisticated (Miall 2011; Mar et al. 2011), acknowledging that responding emotionally can help readers better understand and appreciate literature (Robinson 2007). Importantly, these theories also acknowledge the role of individual differences in the personal histories and belief systems of readers as part of their explanations of how emotions emerge. This review article focuses on an undertheorized facilitator of emergent emotions in response to narrative, namely, personal relevance. Thus, it deals with the general mechanics of narrative processing, but with a particular focus on the individual reader, forging connections between humanities and science perspectives on reading.

AB - In the past century, emotional responses to literary narratives were regarded as unsystematic, personal and unphilosophical, and therefore largely excluded from scholarly discourse. With the recent cognitive turn in the humanities (Kukkonen & Caracciolo 2014; Caracciolo 2016), however, scholars are increasingly willing to consider the question of actual readers’ responses to literary texts. Theories of emotions in reading have become more sophisticated (Miall 2011; Mar et al. 2011), acknowledging that responding emotionally can help readers better understand and appreciate literature (Robinson 2007). Importantly, these theories also acknowledge the role of individual differences in the personal histories and belief systems of readers as part of their explanations of how emotions emerge. This review article focuses on an undertheorized facilitator of emergent emotions in response to narrative, namely, personal relevance. Thus, it deals with the general mechanics of narrative processing, but with a particular focus on the individual reader, forging connections between humanities and science perspectives on reading.

M3 - Article

VL - 40

SP - 429

EP - 451

JO - Poetics Today

JF - Poetics Today

SN - 0333-5372

IS - 3

ER -