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Part of
The Construction of Discourse as Verbal Interaction
Edited by María de los Ángeles Gómez González and J. Lachlan Mackenzie
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 296] 2018
► pp. 251–272

Empathy versus engagement

A storyworld possible selves approach to narrative discourse

| Complutense University, Spain

This study uses one of Hemingway’s very short stories (“The shooting of the six Greek cabinet ministers”, 1924) to explore the connections between narrative engagement, emotion and the linguistic organization of narratives. The analysis is developed within the framework of storyworld possible selves (SPSs) (Martínez 2012, 2014, 2018) or blends of readers’ self-concept and the character construct of a narrative perspectivizer, be it the narrator or a focalizing character. In Hemingway’s story, emotions may seem to emerge from empathy towards the executed ministers; however, a closer look at the language of reference and deixis suggests that engagement and emotion are connected to the ethical conflict resulting from SPS blending and perspectival alignment with their executioners.

Keywords: narrative engagement, storyworld possible selves, empathy, blending theory, double-scope blending, narrative ethics, cognitive stylistics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Narrative engagement: Empathy and beyond
  • 3.Storyworld possible selves
    • 3.1Blending theory
    • 3.2SPS blends
    • 3.3Mirror SPS blending
    • 3.4Double-scope SPS blending
  • 4.The linguistic anchoring of storyworld possible selves
  • 5.SPS projection in Hemingway’s “The shooting of the Greek cabinet ministers”
    • 5.1Identifying the character construct in input space 1
      • 5.1.1Pronominal reference and thematization
      • 5.1.2Narrated perception
      • 5.1.3Double-scope SPS blending and emotional response
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
  • Literary works quoted
Published online: 20 September 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.296.10mar
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