Abstract
This article contributes new insights into the interplay between textual and reader factors in experiences of narrative empathy, or empathy with characters in narrative. It adds to the rather scarce empirical evidence on the relationships between textual devices and readers’ (non-)empathetic responses to characters. This empirical study involved stylistic-narratological analysis of short stories by Eduardo Galeano and thematic analysis of focus group discussions. The study considers empathy in relation to victims and perpetrators in narratives of persecution and torture. Methodologically, the article emphasises the value of a qualitative approach to collecting and analysing readers’ responses that is half way between naturalistic and experimental orientations. The main findings, which revolve around the interaction between certain narrative techniques and readers’ moral evaluation of characters, challenge some theoretical claims from the scholarly literature about textual effects on readers’ empathy. In so doing, the article considers empathy as a highly flexible and context-dependent phenomenon, and suggests the need for a nuanced approach that accommodates the complex interaction between textual and reader factors in the reading context. The discussion spells out the broader implications of the study for stylistic research on the role of language in bringing about effects in readers and also for narrative empathy research. These implications will be of interest to scholars conducting reception studies or reader response research in the neighbouring fields of empirical stylistics, empirical narratology, and empirical literary studies.
Highlights
The study presented in this article contributes new insights into our understanding of readers’ experiences of empathy with characters from a stylistic perspective
Readers’ moral evaluation was an important top-down modulator of empathy in my participants’ discussions. This finding is consistent with the scholarly views discussed above that empathy is morally sensitive. This small-scale study does not claim generalisability, my findings support evidence from previous observations in the literature in two respects: textual factors do not work in isolation and the role of reader factors should be accounted for and further researched
The study presented in this article contributes to the growing body of knowledge on the phenomenon of narrative empathy from a particular angle; namely, the factors that can influence experiences of empathy with characters in narrative
Summary
The study presented in this article contributes new insights into our understanding of readers’ experiences of empathy with characters from a stylistic perspective. This study examines the role of, and the interplay between, certain textual and reader factors in readers’ empathetic (or otherwise) engagement with characters in narrative. The study is a qualitative empirical stylistic contribution to the growing body of research on narrative empathy with regard to the potential links between narrative techniques and effects on readers. The research aims were to examine (1) the potential for empathy of the stories under analysis, (2) readers’ engagement with characters in relation to empathy, and (3) the role of and interplay between textual and reader factors in participants’ responses. Even though the study addresses narrative empathy, the findings add to traditional stylistic concerns about reader experiences, textual effects on readers, and readers’ emotional engagement with characters. I discuss the implications of these findings for both theory and practice
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