Narrative Absorption

Editors

Frank Hakemulder

| Utrecht University

Moniek M. Kuijpers

| Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics

Ed S. Tan

| University of Amsterdam

Katalin Bálint

| Utrecht University

Miruna M. Doicaru

| University of Amsterdam

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027234162 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027265135 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

Narrative Absorption brings together research from the social sciences and Humanities to solve a number of mysteries: Most of us will have had those moments, of being totally absorbed in a book, a movie, or computer game. Typically we do not have any idea about how we ended up in such a state. Nor do we fully realize how we might have changed as we return for the fictional worlds we have visited. The feeling of being absorbed is one of the most illusive and transient feelings, but also one that motivates audiences to spend considerable amounts of time in narrative worlds, and one that is central to our understanding of the effects of narratives on beliefs and behavior. Key specialists inform the reader of this book about the nature of the peculiar state of consciousness during episodes of absorption, the perception of absorption in history, the role of absorption in meaningful experiences with narratives, the relation with related phenomena such as suspense and identification, issues of measurement, and the practical implications, for instance in education-entertainment.

Various fields have worked separately on topics of absorption, albeit using different terminology and methods, but having reached a high level of development and complexity in understanding absorption. Now is the time to bring them together. This volume will be a point of reference for years to come.

[Linguistic Approaches to Literature, 27] 2017. ix, 319 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.27

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Narrative absorption: Introduction and overview Moniek M. Kuijpers and Frank Hakemulder	1–7
Part I. Conceptualization of narrative absorption	11–153
Chapter 1. Beyond metaphors and traditions: Exploring the conceptual boundaries of narrative engagement Helena Bilandzic and Rick Busselle	11–27
Chapter 2. Towards a new understanding of absorbing reading experiences Moniek M. Kuijpers, Frank Hakemulder, Katalin Bálint, Miruna M. Doicaru and Ed S. Tan	29–47
Chapter 3. Narrative persuasion: Effects of transporting stories on attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors Kaitlin S. Fitzgerald and Melanie C. Green	49–67
Chapter 4. Immersion into narrative and poetic worlds: A neurocognitive poetics perspective Arthur M. Jacobs and Jana Lüdtke	69–96
Chapter 5. Into film: Does absorption in a movie’s story world pose a paradox? Ed S. Tan, Miruna M. Doicaru, Frank Hakemulder, Katalin Bálint and Moniek M. Kuijpers	97–118
Chapter 6. “Spellbound in darkness” Narrative absorption discussed by film theory Frank Kessler	119–131
Chapter 7. Antecedents of identification: Character, text, and audiences Jonathan Cohen and Nurit Tal-Or	133–153
Part II. Empirical studies on narrative absorption	158–249
Chapter 8. Identifying with in-game characters: Exploring player articulations of identification and presence Jasper van Vught and Gareth Schott	157–175
Chapter 9. The effect of suspense structure on felt suspense and narrative absorption in literature and film Katalin Bálint, Moniek M. Kuijpers and Miruna M. Doicaru	177–197
Chapter 10. Elaboration, emotion, and transportation: Implications for conceptual analysis and textual features Peter Dixon and Marisa Bortolussi	199–215
Chapter 11. Forms of absorption that facilitate the aesthetic and explanatory effects of literary reading Don Kuiken and Shawn Douglas	217–249
Part III. Outcomes of narrative absorption	254–313
Chapter 12. Absorption and meaningfulness: Examining the relationship between eudaimonic media use and engagement Mary Beth Oliver, Arienne Ferchaud, Chun Yang, Yan Huang and Erica Bailey	253–269
Chapter 13. The role of absorption processes in narrative health communication Anneke de Graaf and Lonneke van Leeuwen	271–292
Chapter 14. Absorption in narrative fiction and its possible impact on social abilities Navona Calarco, Katrina Fong, Marina Rain and Raymond Mar	293–313
Index	315–319

“Taken together, Narrative Absorption succeeds in providing conceptual and empirical foundations for theories of absorbing narrative experiences across media and contexts. The strengths of this volume lie clearly in the close collaboration among scholars from different academic backgrounds. So far, literary scholars have frequently been criticized for appropriating scientific models for perhaps unintended uses and seeming unaware of important epistemological devices (Jackson, 2003; Ryan, 2010). The current volume, however, goes beyond metaphorical forms of appropriation of scientific theories through a coherent view of interdisciplinary relations and hands-on engagement with cognitive science itself. It presents an extensive body of research that has studied the different facets of absorbed experiences in the ways they come about and how they may affect the recipients.”

Carina Rasse, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, in Scientific Study of Literature 7:2 (2017)

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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 december 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Erratum

The volume editors have requested us to add the following rectification to chapter 5.

Subjects & Metadata