The Humanist, or a “Different Kind of Reader”

Magdalena REMBOWSKA-PŁUCIENNIK

The Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Humanities, ul. Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warsaw, Poland , Poland

Abstract

This article explores the current status of literary interpretation in the context of the present and future of the humanities. The author contextualizes the phenomenon within new emerging fields of research such as empirical reading studies and cognitive sciences. Some vivid discrepancies between the literary theories of interpretation and theories of reading are discussed. The author underlies the need to broaden the scope of literary studies on the social, psychological and experiential effects of reading. The author also proposes conceptualization of teaching literature in terms of practicing immersive reading (simulation) instead of focusing on merely critical reading (interpretation). Based on findings from empirical reading studies and cognitive literary studies, the author discusses the case of literary reading as a potencial area of transdiciplinary research in the humanities.

Keywords:

interpretation, reading list, reading, reading styles, empirical studies on reading