The Concept of Literary Application

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

   PDF

2. The Application of Literature to Life

   • Anders Pettersson

   Pages 1-24

3. Examples of Application

   • Anders Pettersson

   Pages 25-40

4. Application and the Act of Reading

   • Anders Pettersson

   Pages 41-60

5. Literature and Cognitive Enrichment

   • Anders Pettersson

   Pages 61-84

6. Transportation and Empathy

   • Anders Pettersson

   Pages 85-104

7. Simulation and Identification

   • Anders Pettersson

   Pages 105-124

8. The Aesthetic Approach to Literature

   • Anders Pettersson

   Pages 125-144

9. Conceptions of the Text

   • Anders Pettersson

   Pages 145-162

10. Literary Practice

    • Anders Pettersson

    Pages 163-185

11. The Concept of Literature

    • Anders Pettersson

    Pages 186-208

12. Questions of Norms and Values

    • Anders Pettersson

    Pages 209-226

13. A Final Look at Application

    • Anders Pettersson

    Pages 227-232

14. Back Matter

    Pages 233-250

    PDF

Application is the process in which readers of literature focus on elements in a text and compare them with the outside world as they know it – an operation with cognitive and emotional consequences. This book demonstrates how and why this simple yet neglected mechanism is of profound importance for the understanding of literary art and experience.

• emotion
• experience
• knowledge
• understanding

"In this lucid and insightful book, Anders Pettersson argues that using fiction to understand life ('application') is a deeply important part of literary experience. He goes on to provide a thought-provoking explanation of why and how this is the case. This nuanced theoretical work - one of the best I have read in years - will be of great interest to anyone who cares about the value of literature." Professor Patrick Hogan, University of Connecticut, USA

"Engaging with an exceptionally wide range of positions in literary theory, philosophical aesthetics, and psychology, Anders Pettersson presents an approach to literature that stresses literature's relevance to readers' lives. His informative views on major issues in literary theory merit the attention of anyone who cares about literature." Paisley Livingston, Chair Professor and Head of Philosophy, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

"[Pettersson] pursuits this interesting and appealing project with clarity and vigour... Pettersson certainly has given a rich and inviting account of literary application that can inspire many further studies. He invites us to take seriously the phenomenon of literary application, an invitation that hopefully will be accepted by many." Tobias Klauk, The Journal of Literary Theory

• Umeå University, Sweden

  Anders Pettersson

ANDERS PETTERSSON is Emeritus Professor of Swedish and Comparative Literature at Umeå University, Sweden, and has published widely on fundamental literary theory and transcultural literary history. Among his monographs and edited collections are Verbal Art: A Philosophy of Literature and Literary Experience (2000) and Notions of Literature across Times and Cultures (2006; editor).

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