Literature and Transformation, livre ebook

An inquiry into readers’ experiences of life-changing encounters with works of literature

This book develops a method called intimate reading to investigate how ordinary readers are deeply moved by what they read, and the transformative impact such experiences have on their sense of self. The book presents unique narratives of such experiences and suggests a theory of transformative affective patterns that may form the basis of an affective literary theory.

Part One, Introduction; Intimate Reading: a hermeneutically oriented narrative method; Part Two, Narratives and Interpretations; Five Readers Re-membering: Intimations of life-changing reading experiences; Chapter 3, Narrative One: Veronica’s Bruise, Interpretation: Listening to the Heart; Chapter 4, Narrative Two: Nina’s Life-long Friend Flicka, Interpretation: The Nostos of MySpace; Chapter 5, Narrative Three: Esther’s Episode, Interpretation: From Discord to Concord; Chapter 6, Narrative Four: Jane’s Visionary Reading, Interpretation: The Big Bang and the View from Above; Chapter 7, Narrative Five: Sue’s Buried Life, Interpretation: Re-membering the Body’s Song; Part Three, Discussion; Chapter 8, Reading by Heart: Literature as Spiritual Necessity; Chapter 9, Towards a Theory of Transformative Affective Patterns; Bibliography; Index.