ENGL 567, CompLit 610 Literary Reading: Historical and Empirical Studies Fall 2005 W 1830-2130 HC 2.30 David S. Miall

Course outline | Schedule | Reading | Commentaries | REDES | Internet links | Assignments

Course outline

What it means to read a literary text is a contested question. Are our readings determined by our cultural position, or are they an outcome of the power of literary language and our experience as readers? Stanley Fish claimed that understanding is constrained by the institution we find ourselves in and an interpretation is always at hand. Interpreters "are situated in that institution, their interpretive activities are not free, but what constrains them are the understood practices and assumptions of the institution and not the rules and fixed meanings of a language system" (Is There a Text 306). This representive view is open to challenge: as Valentine Cunningham argues, "to deny all intrinsic, pre-readerly meanings to the poetic container's contents is to defy all linguistic logic, as well as the evidence of reading history" (Reading After Theory 74).

While reader response and reception studies have typically arbitrated such questions by recourse to theoretical presuppositions (e.g., Iser, Rabinowitz), in this course the primary focus will be on evidence for acts of reading both historically and among contemporary readers. This will include, for example, the working class readers of the Nineteenth Century studied by Jonathan Rose and the romance readers of Janice Radway. Following a review of such historical evidence, the major focus of the course will be on empirical studies of reading and readers over the last twenty years, a new and steadily growing interdiscipline that draws not only on literary studies (stylistics, narratology, etc.), but also psychology, anthropology, and linguistics. We will engage in a critical review of the methods used to study actual readers and the different levels at which response to literary features has been studied. Empirical studies to be considered may include: work in discourse processing and stylistics; the effect of genre expectations; expert-novice distinctions between readers; cultural differences in reading behaviours; studies of narrative modes; contrasts between literary and popular fiction; and the ethical implications of literary reading. Students will be introduced to some basic principles of empirical research design, and have the opportunity to design and carry out an empirical study of their own during the course. They will also be encouraged to participate in the online discussions of the REDES community, a new collaborative organization of empirical researchers involving students and faculty in six countries who also regularly meet for workshops and conferences.

Schedule

Date	Topics	Empirical
Sept 7	Overview. Reading now: example of Chopin story	Experience a study
Sept 14	Narrative and reader: theoretical and empirical issues. A “science” of literary reading? Gerrig; Bortolussi & Dixon; Miall, 2005	VHZ, Prologue; Ch. 1. Empirical
Sept 21	Readers in history, I. Wittman; Darnton	VHZ, Ch. 3. Types of research; ethical issues
Sept 28	Readers in history, II. Rose* (and see Native Readers); Radway	VHZ, Ch. 4. Methods
Oct 5	Theories of reading, I. Convention: Fish, Rabinowitz ; questionnaire examples (Word doc)	VHZ, Ch. 5. Questionnaire
Oct 12	-- Empirical: Hanauer, 1995, 1996; Miall & Kuiken, 1998; Meutsch & Schmidt, 1985	VHZ, Ch. 6. Experiment
Oct 19	Theories of reading, II. Naturalistic. Boyd; Miall, 2000; Tsur	VHZ, Ch 7. SPSS +
Oct 26	-- Empirical: Vipond & Hunt, 1984; Hunt & Vipond, 1986; Miall & Kuiken, 1994	VHZ, SPSS chapters as required. / Carry out your study this week or next +
Nov 2	Empirical overview: Miall, “Literary Discourse” 2001*; Steen; expert readers: Graves & Frederiksen	+
Nov 9	Discourse models: Zwaan et al., 1995; Miall & Kuiken, 1999	First reports +
Nov 16	Ethical model: Hakemulder; Conversational model: Dixon et al., 1993, 2001
Nov 23	Getting personal: De Certeau* notes; Seilman & Larsen
Nov 30	Literary context: Hogan*; Dissanayake*
Dec 7	Conclusions. theoretical / empirical studies / last questions

*Commentary already provided. + Lab time in Rutherford S. 205A.

Reading

Readings will be provided through this course website. They will include chapters from books by Bortolussi and Dixon, Gerrig, Rabinowitz, Radway, and Tsur. A limited number of copies of these books will be available through the bookstore for those of you who want to read more widely in one or more of them.

VHZ, draft chapters of a book in preparation by Willie van Peer, Jèmeljan Hakemulder, and Sonia Zyngier, reproduced here in advance of publication by kind permission of the authors. See the readings web page link following.

A number other chapters and papers are included : see readings web page (hidden site).

Commentaries

Commentaries: schedule of student-led discussions.

Link to abstracts and commentaries arising from the course reading. Note that those presented here in advance of the course were created by Cathelein Aaftink, Paul Campbell, and David Miall during the Winter term 2005.

REDES

REDES Portal

To sign on as a member, click on Your Account under INFOS (on left); you will then be able to use the new user registration screen. Affiliate yourself with the Canada group.

Internet Links

Reader Response: Miall & Kuiken (includes bibliography)
IGEL: International Association for the Empirical Study of Literature
ECEL: Annual Conferences of REDES members in Rio de Janeiro
Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP)
Literature, Cognition, and the Brain
I.P.S.A. (Institute for Psychological Study of the Arts)
Psyart

Assignments

You will take responsibility for preparing abstracts (up to 700 words) of two of the readings in advance of the time set for their discussion, together with a set of discussion questions. After the discussion you will produce a critical commentary on the paper (up to 700 words) for review the following week; the final version will be located on the course reading website.

Discussion of empirical method and the design and execution of an actual empirical study by each student will continue as a thread running through the term (see right-hand column of schedule). Students may want to solicit collaboration through REDES, where a number of empirical studies are already underway or will be implemented during the term. This would, among other things, allow for some cross-cultural research. Student must review the guidelines for research with human participants (Human Research...) to ensure that ethical standards are met. You will produce a short report on your empirical study which will be posted on the website (around 2000 words).

The final paper in the course, due December 7th, will be a reflection on one of the theoretical, historical, or empirical issues that has interested you (2000 words).

Assignment weightings:

Commentary 1, 15%
Commentary 2, 15%
Empirical report, 30%
Final paper, 40%

* The graphic above is from Pompeii [http://www.answers.com/~topic/pompeii]

to Miall website

Document created May 25th 2005 / revised December 4th 2005