Real readers reading Wasco’s ‘City’: A storyworld possible selves approach

Abstract

This study empirically investigates reader responses to the one-page graphic narrative ‘City’ within the theoretical framework of storyworld possible selves. These are blended structures resulting from the conceptual integration of two input spaces: the mental representation that readers construct for the narrator or character that perspectivizes a narrative, and the mental representation that readers entertain for themselves, or self-concept. In our study, we use a questionnaire to elicit information about the internal organization of storyworld possible selves blends in 15 real readers, and we discuss the bearing of both collectively shared and idiosyncratic storyworld possible self blends on character construction, emotional response, and narrative construal.