A Participatory Perspective on the Experience of Narrative Worlds (Invited Talk)

Abstract

As people experience narratives, they often behave as if they are
participants in the narrative world. This talk embraces that claim to
develop a participatory perspective on readers' and viewers' narrative
experiences. This perspective asserts, for example, that readers
encode participatory responses as reactions to characters' utterances
and actions. The talk will review three areas of empirical research
that have emerged from this perspective. The first area will be
readers' experiences of narrative mysteries—circumstances in which a
text raises questions that are not immediately settled. The second
area will be the consequences of readers' participation as they weigh
in on characters' actions and decisions. The third area will be the
potential for changes in people's beliefs and attitudes as a product
of their narrative experiences.