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Empathy and Love: Types of Textuality and Degrees of Affectivity

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The Palgrave Handbook of Affect Studies and Textual Criticism

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Abstract

Philosophical debates have centered on questions of why we feel for fictional others when we know that they are not real. This chapter explores instead how certain types of narratives can intensify and reshape our emotions, regardless of the factual reality of their content. Epic and novel may be more effective in inducing our empathy than journalistic reports because of how they draw upon techniques of focalization so as to create an impression of our ongoing familiarity with the suffering people they describe. Relatedly, our concept of romantic love takes shape not only as a result of biological needs but also in response to cultural expectations, which have relied on a long literary tradition of textually elicited affect within Western culture.

I am grateful to Thomas Blake and Donald Wehrs for their detailed comments and valuable editorial suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ohio State University, Newark, OH, USA

    Dana LaCourse Munteanu

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  1. Dana LaCourse Munteanu
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  1. Department of English, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA

    Donald R. Wehrs

  2. English/Philosophy Department, Monroe Community College, Rochester, New York, USA

    Thomas Blake

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Munteanu, D.L. (2017). Empathy and Love: Types of Textuality and Degrees of Affectivity. In: Wehrs, D., Blake, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Affect Studies and Textual Criticism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63303-9_12

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