Possible Worlds Theory and Readers' Emotional Responses to Literature

Advancing and bringing cognitive stylistics, possible worlds theory, and empirical literary studies into dialogue, Possible Worlds Theory and Readers’ Emotional Responses to Literature offers innovative, compelling, and important contributions to our understanding of how fictional worlds are constructed as well as how readers cognitively process them. * Alice Bell, Professor of English Language and Literature, Sheffield Hallam University, UK *
Mansworth richly and convincingly extends possible worlds theories into the exploration of emotion in literary reading. This book stands as compelling account of the emotional impact and long-lasting power of literary reading, and offers the crucial link that binds together the levels of world and style. * Peter Stockwell, Professor of Literary Linguistics, University of Nottingham, UK *
Megan Mansworth provides a compelling exploration of how the emotions expressed by readers in response to novels may be partly explained by an application of Possible Worlds Theory that builds on earlier scholarly research. The book discusses a range of emotions elicited in three novels: A Fine Balance; Revolutionary Road; and The Trick is to Keep Breathing, and through a stylistic analysis, suggests that readers’ emotional responses to narratives may be partly understood through the application of a framework of textual actual and possible worlds. * Marina Lambrou, Associate Professor in English Language and Linguistics, Kingston University, UK *