Abstract
This thesis takes a cognitive stylistic approach to investigating experiences of narrative empathy which arise whilst reading modernist short fiction. It accounts for the linguistic underpinnings of empathy by mapping qualitative reader response data sourced from think-aloud protocols onto detailed stylistic analyses informed by three cognitive stylistic frameworks: Text World Theory (Gavins, 2007; Werth, 1999), Cognitive Grammar (Longaker, 2008), and Storyworld Possible Selves (Martínez, 2018b). Each framework forms the key paradigm for exploring character-centred empathy with characters in one modernist short story apiece, respectively Katherine Mansfield’s The Wrong House (1919/1924), Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour (1894/1969) and Virginia Woolf’s A Summing Up (1944/2003). These stories, which each feature an epiphany, exemplify the modernist experimentation with consciousness presentation variously, allowing for a multi-faceted exploration of the effects of focalisation on dynamic experiences of empathy.This thesis moves beyond studying the empathetic effects of isolated linguistic features to considering the role of consciousness presentation in shaping narrative empathy holistically. It argues that empathy whilst reading modernist short stories may best be understood by establishing how consciousness representation interacts with narrative situations as well as reader factors to shape the emergence, maintenance and evolution of empathetic relationships between characters and readers in terms of shared mental states. Each analysis tracks the progression of these relationships across the narrative under investigation to present new insights into linguistic and reader aspects of narrative empathy with modernist character minds.
This first empirical account of empathy in response to modernist short fiction enriches theoretical discussions of the empathetic effects of consciousness presentation in modernist short fiction. Subsidiary contributions arise from the enhancement of the cognitive stylistic frameworks applied, a comparison between these frameworks in terms of analytical purchase, and testing the methodological effectiveness of think-aloud data for studying narrative empathy. Finally, the thesis also provides hypotheses for further research in terms of the readerly experience of character minds.
| Date of Award | 27 Jan 2026 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Liz Towns-Andrews (Main Supervisor) & Nicola Stenberg (Co-Supervisor) |