This Is Who I Could Be: Storyworld Possible Selves and Fictionality.

How to describe and analyse engagement with narrative? This project combines cognitive narratology, cognitive linguistics and social psychology for seminal research on this process. A 'storyworld' is a mental model constructed by the reader, which provides answers to the essential questions for the comprehension of a narrative: who did what to and with whom, when, where, why, and in what manner (D. Herman). 'Possible selves' are the selves we would like to become or want to avoid becoming (Markus and Nurius). 'Storyworld possible selves' are "imagings of the self in storyworlds" (Martinez) that may enhance the reader's involvement and that are activated by various narrative cues. This project investigates whether perceived fictionality and perceived non-fictionality will have a different bearing on the nature, construction and relevance of 'storyworld possible selves'. To answer the research question, the project will carry out a mixed-method empirical investigation in two stages. First a small group of experts will select relevant sections from _A Million Little Pieces_ (2003) by James Frey, which was published as non-fiction but eventually 'became' fiction after revelations about its lack of verisimilitude. In the second stage of the investigation, members of three small groups of readers will provide their reactions in relation to these sections. Group 1 will be told they are reading a memoir, group 2 they are reading a novel, and group 3 won't get any extra information.

Keywords:LITERATURE SCIENCES, READING

Disciplines:Literary theory, Psychology of literature

Project type:Collaboration project