Experiencing Powerful Prose

Abstract

R. L. Victoria Pöhls and Mariane Utudji consider the types of research processes required to identify 'powerful' prose texts, their workings and potentialities. They argue that a stylistic and linguistic analysis is an indispensable first step, which can be enhanced through an oral performance of the text, as an effective means to highlight the linguistic components and mechanisms contributing to the powerful reading experience. Based on such a(n embodied) analysis process, well-grounded hypotheses about the cognitive and emotional effects of certain works of literature on certain readers in certain reading situations can be made. Empirical reader response studies can then aim to substantiate these claims beyond individual experience - to shed light on the interplays between texts, readers, and reading situations that constitute experiences of powerful prose.