What are emotions? How are they communicated through art? What are the different forms by which literature affects the reader? What does literature teach us about emotions? This course takes as its focus a historical survey on theoretical and empirical insights on emotions in literature. It will survey the role of emotion from ancient Greek aesthetics, through Romantic aesthetics through the early modern period, until investigations of feeling and emotion became central among reader reception and response theorists. At the turn of the 20th century, the proposal of an empirical study of actual readers shed light on the detailed mechanisms by which literature can affect the reader. A central underlying assumption is that responses to literary texts combine verbal, emotional and cognitive elements that may account for the distinctiveness of the literary experience. Here, the concept of literariness is revisited and shaped by evidence-based observations, and a number of conceptual models on the impact of literature on emotions have been articulated. This course will explore these different models, mapping some of the different forms of emotional involvement with literature. To this purpose, we will be reading literary theory, philosophy, as well as up-to-date work in contemporary cognitive neuroscience and psychology to inform our understanding of emotions. We hope to discuss and discover how contemporary studies of the mind are relevant to literature and how we have imagined the mind at different times.
Upon completing this course, students will:
- Gain deeper insight into key theoretical perspectives and concepts on literature and emotions
- Increase their awareness of interdisciplinary literacy
- Develop the ability to discuss theoretical and empirical issues on literature and emotions and their implications for practical affective criticism
- Increase their understanding and appreciation for how literary works can be emotionally and ethically significant for a broad range of readers in different places and at different times