| Description |
1 online resource (235 pages) |
|
text file |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary |
This book studies recent psychological findings which suggest that reading fiction cultivates empathy, encouraging us to be critically reflective, suspicious readers as well as participatory, 'na ve' readers. Scott draws on literary theory and close readings to argue that engagement with fictional stories also teaches us to resist uncritical forms of empathy and reminds us of the limitations of our ability to understand other people. The book treats figures of the stranger in Balzac's La Fille aux yeux d'or, Stendhal's Le Rouge et le Noir and Sand's Indiana as emblematic of the strangeness of narrative fiction, both drawing us in and keeping us at a distance. |
| Contents |
1. Does reading fiction boost empathy? Psychological approaches; 2. Literary approaches to empathy; 3. Fictional strangers and the strangeness of fiction; 4. Balzac: the limits of transparency and the dangers of opacity; 5. Stendhal and the two opposing demands; 6. Sand and the necessity of suspicion; 7. Towards an empathetic ethics of fiction-reading; Bibliography; Index. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Empathy in literature.
|
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Empathy in literature. |
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Realism.
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Realism. |
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LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- French. |
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: 1474463037 9781474463034 (OCoLC)1117549927 |
| ISBN |
9781474463058 (electronic book) |
|
1474463053 (electronic book) |
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9781474463065 (electronic book) |
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1474463061 (electronic book) |
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9781474463034 |
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1474463037 |
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