Imaginative Empathy in Literature: On the Theory of Presentification in Husserl and its Application in Literary Reading

Authors

  • Jing Shang Sorbonne Université, Faculté des Lettres

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25180/lj.v22i1.216

Keywords:

Imagination, Empathy, Phenomenology of Reading, Edmund Husserl, Literature

Abstract

This paper provides an account of the experience of empathizing with the fictional characters of literary works, through the lens of Husserl's theory of presentification. Via a critical analysis of Husserl and other phenomenologists, I argue that fictional characters, though lacking embodied presence, can be presentified to the reader in the mode of "as if." Moreover, I claim that imaginative empathy is a guided creative reproduction of sedimented past bodily experiences. This explains why, motivated by imaginative empathetic presentification, not only aesthetic feelings, but also "as if" existential feelings come to the fore. Finally, it shows to what extent presentation and the different modes of presentification are interwoven and function together.

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References

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Published

31.08.2020

How to Cite

Shang, J. (2020). Imaginative Empathy in Literature: On the Theory of Presentification in Husserl and its Application in Literary Reading. Labyrinth, 22(1), 40–55. https://doi.org/10.25180/lj.v22i1.216

Issue

Section

At the Crossroads of Philosophy and the Arts