The Psychology and Sociology of Literature: In honor of Elrud Ibsch (Utrecht Publications in General and Comparative Literature)

This collection of essays on literature is in honour of the scholarship and retirement of Elrud Ibsch, a pioneer of the empirical study of literature movement. The chapters present an overview of the results, promises, gaps and needs of the empirical study of literature. Annotation The Psychology and Sociology of Literature is a collection of 25 chapters on literature by some of the leading psychologists, sociologists, and literary scholars in the field of the empirical study of literature. Contributors include Ziva Ben-Porat, Gerry Cupchik, Art Graesser, Rachel Giora, Norbert Groeben, Colin Martindale, David Miall, Willie van Peer, Kees van Rees, Siegfried Schmidt, Hugo Verdaasdonk, and Rolf Zwaan. Topics include literature and the reading process; the role of poetic language, metaphor, and irony; cathartic and Freudian effects; literature and creativity; the career of the literary author; literature and culture; literature and multicultural society, literature and the mass media; literature and the internet; and literature and history. An introduction by the editors situates the empirical study of literature within an academic context. The chapters are all invited and refereed contributions, collected to honor the scholarship and retirement of professor Elrud Ibsch, of the Free University of Amsterdam. Together they represent the state of the art in the empirical study of literature, a movement in literary studies which aims to produce reliable and valid scientific knowledge about literature as a means of verbal communication in its cultural context. Elrud Ibsch was one of the pioneers in Europe to promote this approach to literature some 25 years ago, and this volume takes stock of what has happened since. The Psychology and Sociology of Literature presents an invaluable overview of the results, promises, gaps, and needs of the empirical study of literature. It addresses social scientists as well as scholars in the humanities who are interested in literature as discourse Editorial page......Page 3 Title page......Page 4 LCC data......Page 5 Table of contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 The empirical study of literature......Page 10 Literary creativity......Page 26 Qualitative methods in studyingtext reception......Page 44 Agency, plot,and a structural affect theory of literary story comprehension ......Page 66 Time in narrative comprehension......Page 80 Old readers......Page 96 What we know about reading poetry......Page 116 A renaissance perspective on the empirical study of literature......Page 138 A rhetoric of metaphor......Page 154 Irony and its discontent......Page 174 Psychoanalysts and daydreaming......Page 194 Back from the grave......Page 210 How to make alle Menschen Brüder......Page 234 "Sad autumn" and cultural representations ......Page 252 The fragmentation of the media audience......Page 270 Bypassing the author......Page 298 Readers and reading behavior in the past......Page 324 The empirical study of careers in literature and the arts......Page 332 Stories and social structure......Page 368 Quotations expressing the valuative stands of literary reviewers......Page 388 The proper place of humanism......Page 404 An evolutionary framework for literary reading......Page 416 High and popular culture from the viewpoints of psychology and cultural studies......Page 430 Operative fictions......Page 452 List of contributors......Page 468 Subject index......Page 472 Name Index......Page 478 The series UTRECHT PUBLICATIONS IN GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE......Page 488 The Empirical Study Of Literature: Psychology, Sociology, And Other Disciplines / Gerard Steen And Dick Schram -- Literary Creativity / Norbert Groeben -- Qualitative Methods In Studying Text Reception / Margrit Schreier -- Agency, Plot, And A Structural Affect Theory Of Literary Story Comprehension / Arthur C. Graesser And Bianca Klettke -- Time In Narrative Comprehension: A Cognitive Perspective / Rolf A. Zwaan, Carol J. Madden And Robert A. Stanfield -- Old Readers: Slow Readers Or Expert Readers? / Katinka Dijkstra -- What We Know About Reading Poetry: Theoretical Positions And Empirical Research / David Ian Hanauer -- A Renaissance Perspective On The Empirical Study Of Literature: An Example From Psychophysiology / Johan F. Hoorn. Edited By Dick Schram, Gerard Steen. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes.