THE AFFECTIVE MIND AND THE READING OF FICTION

Abstract

The article describes the material elements and mental processes in¬terrelated in the affectivisation of the reading process of a fictional narrative. Based on linguistic pragmatics, the text is materially described as a structure of communication with the reader; in dialogue with narratology based on theories of possible worlds, the effects of this communication are described as a source of stimulus to the knowledge and interpretation of plots and fictional worlds. Regarding the mental processes stimulated by reading, Michael Graziano’s theory of consciousness is used to situate the semiosis of linguistic symbols as a basic process of affectivisation, which leads, in an ascending degree of complexity, to the interpretation of mental states, to the moralisation of actions and to the enaction of the conscious states of the characters, which dominate the conscious stages of the affective relationship with the text. The result is a preliminary global model, to be refined later.

Keywords: Affective mind. Fiction reading. Folk psychology. Embodied cognition.