Feeling Reads: Fiction, Affect, and Book Therapy

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Students with a good command of English (B2 or better), as well as basic knowledge in English and related literature are welcome to enrol.

Since the course involves a prominent reading component and two writing assignments students must be prepared to find time for self-study. Participants should be advised in advance that four unabridged novels, and a number of shorter regular texts will be assigned for reading throughout the semester.

This course attempts to discuss the reader’s affective experience involved in reading a literary text. Selected works of English and related literature will be discussed to exemplify the ways in which literature can variously affect the reader. Themes discussed throughout the course: reader response theory, literary affect, illness and disability life writing, reading for dealing with trauma and grief, comfort reading, bibliotherapy.

This course attempts to examine the reader’s affective experience involved in reading a literary text. Selected works of English and related literature will be discussed to exemplify the ways in which literature can variously affect the reader. The course will be organised into two components. The first one involves in-class discussions around the theories of reading. During these sessions students will be asked to read and discuss theoretical texts that aim to account for the emotional and cognitive challenges involved reading a literary text as well as the role of the reader’s experience in this process. The central questions to be addressed are: What affective experience does a literary text elicit from the reader? Can or should a literary text be used for comfort and healing? What types of literary texts lend themselves for these purposes? The second component, referred to in the list of topics as “Book Talk” involves four sessions (taking place in 3-4 weeks intervals), during which students are asked to read and discuss four full novels (one per session) that in different ways exemplify the topics and concepts discussed throughout the course. Students will be asked to read these texts closely in an attempt to address the above-listed questions. This course involves a prominent self-study component, including two types of assignments: 1) reading: theoretical and literary texts (as discussed above); 2) writing: two response papers (mid-tern response paper, and end-of-term response paper; 1000 words each).

Attridge, Darek. The Singularity of Literature. Routledge, 2004.

Attridge, Derek. The Work of Literature. Oxford University Press, 2015.

Caruth, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016.

Coetzee, J. M. The Death of Jesus. Harvill Secker, 2019.

Haig, Matt. The Midnight Library. Viking, 2020.

Ignatieff, Michael. On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times. Picador, 2022.

Iser, Wolfgang. “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach.” New Literary History 3 (2) 1972: 279-299.

James, David. Discrepant Solace: Contemporary Literature and the Work of Consolation. Oxford University Press, 2019.

McBride, Eimear. A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing. Faber & Faber, 2014.

McNicol, Sarah, and Liz Brewster. Bibliotherapy. Facet Publishing, 2018.

Porter, Max. Grief is the Thing with Feather. Faber & Faber, 2015.

Quayson, Ato. Aesthetic Nervousness: Disability and the Crisis of Representation. Columbia University Press, 2007.

Selden, Raman, Peter Widdowson, and Peter Brooker. A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. Routledge, 2017.

Wallace, David Foster. "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction." Review of Contemporary Fiction 13( 2) 1993: 151-194.

Wong, Alice. Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century. Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2020.

Knowledge: the graduate student

K_W02 knows how to use terms used in humanities

K_W04 knows how to use methods of analysis and interpretation of scholarly texts

K_W06 knows how to use various methods of analysis and interpretation of cultural texts and artworks

Skills: the graduate student

K_U02 knows how to select and apply specific research tools to analyse artworks, scholarly publications, and visual materials

K_U06 knows how to participate in academic conferences, symposiums, and debates

K_U07 knows how to complete an academic writing assignment using digital solutions and respecting the principles of protection of intellectual property

K_U08 knows how to analyse scholarly publications in the area of humanities in a foreign language

K_U09 has a good command of a foreign language at the upper-intermediate level

Social competencies: the graduate student

K_K01 is prepared to foster lifelong learning

K_K05 is empathetic and respects the cultural diversity of a community

K_K07 respects the cultural and natural diversity of a community

Assessment is based on attendance (up to two absences allowed; absences 3-4 must be certified and/or made up; absences 5 and over result in failure to pass the course), in-class performance, and timely submission of writing assignments (two response papers of up to 1000 words in length each).

Submission of two response papers of up to 1000 words in length.