Literature and Emotions

In the course, students learn about how authors influence the reader through literary means, how readers accept the emotional content of literary works and how emotions influence the creation of literary texts. They get to know the basic principles of the emotional turn in literary science.
Students are encouraged to analyze the impact of literary texts in conjunction with literary-theoretical analysis of phenomena in texts. Through the examples of literary works, they determine how the author's voice is inscribed in a literary work through an implied author.

No prerequisites. Requirements for the exam: presence and active participation in lectures.

The course is based on modern methods of literary criticism and explores the relationship between emotions and literature.
Introductory findings on emotions in literature:
Emotions as a fundamental dimension of literature (Fludernik), general findings on the mechanisms of the emotional effects of texts.
Emotions and reading literature:
Processes of reading literary works from the point of view of emotion, basic findings of literary science from the point of view of emotions while reading.
Development of an individual's literary ability in its emotional dimensions (Nikolajeva).
Presentation of emotions as an integral part of a two-stage literary interpretation and of ways of expressing emotions.
Development of literary ability in terms of distinguishing between identification with literary figures and, on the other hand, the feeling of literary empathy (Keen, Nikolajeva).
The emergence of mirror neurons and their response to reading literature.
Emotional content in trivial literature vs. emotional content in quality literary works.
Reading literature as a search for human contact (Torell).
Literature and the body: the concept of embodying knowledge from the perspective of reading literature (Armstrong).
Emotions in literary science:
Basic theoretical starting points of modern literary methods based on emotional content.
The neuroscience of art and reading (Armstrong).
Narratology and emotions.
Ethical turn in literary science.
Emotions and writing literature:
Studies on the creative process of writers in terms of emotional content (Taylor et al.; Keen).
Understanding the analytical approaches to the question of how interior thoughts of characters and the opinions of narrators are expressed in literary works, how literature shows intimacy and what are (self)representations of literary figures in works.
Presentation of the concept of the implied author.

Knowledge and understanding:
The student will:
- master the tools of analysis of the effect of literary texts on the reader's emotions;
- gain a thorough overview of the main authors dealing with the emotional dimensions of literature and their connections with the ethical aspects of literary works (i.e. the ethical turn);
- learn the basic concepts in the field of neuroscience of reading literary works, such as mirror neurons and the embodiment of cognition;
- acquire knowledge of literary ability and literary interpretation with an emphasis on emotional aspects;
- understand how emotions are connected with the process of creating literary texts;
- perceive the course of character formation, stories, implicit author, atmosphere, etc. in terms of emotional effects.

Skills:
The student:
- develops skills for analyzing the various effects of textual means on the reader's emotions and is able to self-reflexively assess their own skills;
- analyzes the expression of emotions and bodily feelings in literary texts of different types and genres;
- analyzes the implied author in literary texts;
- while reading literary works, the student is able to analyze the subjective view of individual characters.

• Armstrong, Paul B., 2015: Kako se literatura igra z možgani?: Nevroznanost umetnosti in branja. Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete.
• Jean Decety in William Ickes (ur.): The social neuroscience of empathy. Cambridge: The MIT Press. 3–16. E-version
• Blau, Sheridan, 2014: Literary competence and the experience of literature. Style 48/1. 42–47. E-version
• Eco, Umberto, 2005: O literaturi. Tržič: Učila International. Catalogue
• Fludernik, Monica, 2010: An introduction to narratology. London in New York: Routledge. E-version
• Herman, David, 2008: Cognition, emotion, and consciousness. The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 245–259. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521856965.017
• Keen, Suzanne, 2007: Empathy and the Novel. Oxford in New York: Oxford University Press.
• Nikolajeva, Maria, 2010: Literacy, competence and meaning-making: A human sciences approach. Cambridge Journal of Education 40/2. 145–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2010.481258
• Taylor, Marjorie Esther, Hodges, Sara D. in Kohányi, Adèle, 2003: The illusion of independent agency: Do adult fiction writers experience their characters as having minds of their own?. Imagination, Cognition and Personality 22/4. 361–80. https://doi.org/10.2190/FTG3-Q9T0-7U26-5Q5X E-version
• Torell, Örjan, 2001: Literary competence beyond conventions. Scandinavian journal of educational research 45/ 4. 369–379. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313830120096770
• Virk, Tomislav, 2018: Etični obrat v literarni vedi. Ljubljana: Literarno-umetniško društvo Literatura.
• Zajc, Ivana, 2017: Implicitni avtor: Raba v slovenski literarni vedi, nove opredelitve in problematična mesta. Slavistična revija 65/1. 127–139. E-version
• Zupan Sosič, Alojzija, 2011: Trivialnost. Slavistična revija 59/2. 147–160. E-version
• Zupan Sosič, Alojzija, 2014: Za literarno interpretacijo. Jezik in slovstvo 59/2–3. 117–128. E-version
• Žunkovič, Igor, 2016: Ali je nevroznanost rešila humanistiko? Revizija razmerja med nevroznanostjo in literarno vedo pet let kasneje. Jezik in slovstvo 61/1. 101–112. E-version

Seminar paper 30 %
Seminar presentation 20 %
Oral exam 50 %

Asst. Prof. Dr. Ivana Zajc deals with digital humanities, especially with distant reading of literary texts, and with literary theoretical questions. She researches Slovene literary history from the point of view of the work of women writers and the history of emotions.

Selected reference:

ZAJC, Ivana, MLAČNIK, Primož. The forbidden speech: (self) censorship in the personal correspondence of women writers of the Slovenian modernism. V: ZAJC, Ivana (ur.). Censoring intimacy in women's writing and reading in the long nineteenth century: 3rd international exploratory workshop: 23-24 August 2022 Ljubljana, Oton Župančič Library. 1st ed. Nova Gorica: University of Nova Gorica, 2022. str. 17. [COBISS.SI-ID 119585539].
ZAJC, Ivana. Literarna zmožnost kultiviranega bralca in Evropski literarni okvir. Jezik in slovstvo. 2019, letn. 64, št. 3/4, str. 57-67, 156. [COBISS.SI-ID 70990690].
ZAJC, Ivana. Konvencija didaskalij: zgodovinske oblike, tipologije, opredelitve in sodobne subverzije. Jezik in slovstvo. 2017, letn. 62, št. 1, str. 69-78, 120. [COBISS.SI-ID 64000354].
ZAJC, Ivana. Implicitni avtor: raba v slovenski literarni vedi, nove opredelitve in problematična mesta. Slavistična revija: časopis za jezikoslovje in literarne vede. jan.-mar. 2017, letn. 65, št. 1, str. 127-139. [COBISS.SI-ID 63785058].
ZAJC, Ivana. Poezija v modelih esejske naloge na maturi iz materinščine. V: PAVLIČ, Darja (ur.). Slovenska poezija. Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, 2021. Str. 347-352. Obdobja, 40. [COBISS.SI-ID 85321731].
ZAJC, Ivana. Kaj je literarna zmožnost in kako jo preverjamo z maturitetnim esejem. V Novi Gorici: Založba Univerze v Novi Gorici, 2023. 269 str., ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 126567427].