{"title":"A Little Life and Empathy Aptitude Reading","authors":"Joseph R. Worthen","doi":"10.5325/reception.12.1.0054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/reception.12.1.0054","url":null,"abstract":"abstract :Reading literary fiction has long enjoyed a reputation as a constructive habit in American culture. It has been believed, at different times, to improve learnedness, social mobility, and even allay individual suffering as a type of therapy. This article examines one of the newest phases of reading as self-improvement: reading for the development of empathetic aptitude. Examining Goodreads reviews for Hanya Yanagihara's 2015 novel A Little Life reveals patterns in reader assumptions about the value of empathy to reading and points to a new paradigm catalyzed by Kidd and Castano's 2013 study, \"Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind.\" Through a comprehensive interrogation of reader reviews and relevant scholarship, this article engages the characteristics, shortcomings, and future implications of the empathy aptitude reading.","PeriodicalId":40584,"journal":{"name":"Reception-Texts Readers Audiences History","volume":"66 1","pages":"54 - 70"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90672609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"\"A brief history of the nymphet's tribulations\": The Interpretation of Obscenity in the Early Reception of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita","authors":"Sayers","doi":"10.5325/reception.12.1.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/reception.12.1.0005","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:The publication of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita was scandalous, but few seem to know why. One explanation is that Lolita's sexual content offended readers, and while this is in part true, a thorough analysis of the early reviews and criticism of Lolita between 1955 and 1960 reveals that there were many other reasons for the scandal, including the book's humor, its message, and its style. Despite some objections to the book, many commentators came to its defense, but in their attempts to defend the book from accusations of obscenity or immorality, they consistently adopted a negative view of the character Lolita. This article examines these early interpretive trends and their ethical implications.","PeriodicalId":40584,"journal":{"name":"Reception-Texts Readers Audiences History","volume":"31 1","pages":"20 - 5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74987390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Emily Dickinson, Jenny Lind, and Rural Nineteenth-Century Fandom","authors":"Gerard Holmes","doi":"10.5325/reception.12.1.0038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/reception.12.1.0038","url":null,"abstract":"abstract :Although Emily Dickinson's papers were preserved because of her place in literary history, not her musical knowledge, her engagement with music provides an opportunity to consider pre-twentieth-century fandom. New technologies and established social networks enabled fandom for a young rural woman. For this population more than male and urban audiences, fandom carried social danger, involving not only enthusiasm but discernment and even skepticism. The marketing of Jenny Lind's mid-nineteenth-century tour depended on crafting a public image of the singer as virtuous and philanthropic. Dickinson's letter describing a Lind concert in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1851 critiques this image, transmitted into rural settings by local newspapers. Instead of the enthusiasm of indiscriminate audiences, Dickinson articulates a rurally inflected, judicious, self-selecting \"Yankee\" fandom.","PeriodicalId":40584,"journal":{"name":"Reception-Texts Readers Audiences History","volume":"28 1","pages":"38 - 53"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90646221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Tale of Two Labels: The Use of \"Modernism\" and \"Avant-Garde\" in the Reception of Tom Mccarthy's c","authors":"D. Kersten, U. Wilbers","doi":"10.5325/reception.12.1.0021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/reception.12.1.0021","url":null,"abstract":"abstract :This article presents the results of an innovative in-depth investigation of the reception of Tom McCarthy's novel C (2010), with the purpose of shedding more light on the use of labels associated with \"Modernism\" in the interpretation of contemporary British fiction. Focusing on the occurrence of the words \"Modernism\" and \"avant-garde,\" it combines quantitative analysis and detailed reading in order to answer the question how the two labels are defined when they are used in reference to C. The article aims to make a contribution to the on-going \"Metamodernism\" debate and its discussion of new developments in art after the demise of Postmodernism. Its main conclusion is that reviewers tend to interpret the two labels historically, which may be a consequence of the novel's setting in time. The research proves how essential it is to study the reception of novels across different cultural realities.","PeriodicalId":40584,"journal":{"name":"Reception-Texts Readers Audiences History","volume":"1 1","pages":"21 - 37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82973281","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}