The Felt Experience of Reading: From Realist Fiction to Immersive Technologies (Part I)

05/27/22 • 36 min

This is episode #18 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 26th of May, 2022.
Today, I interviewed Dr. Elaine Auyoung, Donald V. Hawkins Professor and Associate Professor of English at the University of Minnesota, and Affiliate Faculty of the Center for Cognitive Sciences. She is the author of “When Fiction Feels Real: Representation and the Reading Mind”, recently released in paperback from Oxford University Press. In addition to the project on “Unselfing” described on her faculty webpage, Elaine is also working on a book project on “Becoming Sensitive,” which uses cognitive research on expertise and perceptual learning to show how training in the arts and humanities prepares learners to notice and respond to information in ways that are important for future problem solving but have been difficult to assess.
We had an amazing time covering many important topics from Elaine’s book, but the episode went over the usual podcast duration, so I’ve decided to split it into two parts. We started with the definition of Reality Novels and ways to describe the experience of reading. For Tolstoy, for instance, readers’ effort to comprehend the characters’ sensations and emotions as fully as possible is an aesthetic and ethical end in itself. However, the way in which such writers convey the felt experience of the fictional worlds has remained relatively underexplored.
We then looked into the extent to which literary experience depends on the the knowledge and abilities that readers bring to a text, one one hand, and how much it relies on the set of strategies employed by the skillful writer, on the other hand. Another point we addressed was the importance of the translation process in maintaining the level of immersive experience of reading.
In Part II, we talked about how to bridge the gap between the readers’ experience and the experience of firsthand perception — I.e., how well can we know what we don’t experience directly? As always, we concluded with a discussion technologies like e-books and multimedia experiences.
This is Part I of the episode.

Show Notes:
- what is realist fiction?
- what is the experience of reading?
- how do we get from words on a page to the reader’s immersive experience of the story
- the knowledge and abilities that readers have vs.the set of strategies employed by the skillful writer
- how cognitively taxing is reading a novel?
- the importance of the sensory properties of a language that inevitably get lost in translation

Link to Dr. Auyoung's book (paperback edition) :
https://www.amazon.com/When-Fiction-Feels-Real-Representation/dp/0197621279/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MMDE5NRJ6GV4&keywords=when+fiction+feels+real&qid=1650048589&sprefix=when+fiction+feels+real%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1

Previous Episode

Storytelling and Relational Identity: Lived Experiences in Medical Education (Part II)

This is episode #17th of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 12th of May, 2022.

I sat down with Dr. Sally Warmington, a retired medical doctor and narrative researcher from Melbourne, Australia with a deep interest in the encounter between health professionals and those seeking care. Her experiences as a doctor, student, teacher and patient inform her research at the intersection of anthropology, cultural theory and linguistics. Her book "Storytelling encounters as medical education: crafting relational identity" demonstrates the key role of storytelling in medical education and practice and its potential to promote collaborative, better quality care.

We had a fascinating discussion on many important topics covered in Sally’s book, but the episode went over the usual podcast duration, so I’ve decided to split it into two parts. This is Part II.

We continued our discussion from Part I on ethics in clinical practice, focusing on the concept of ‘ethical mindfulness’ — how to bring in and apply ethical values in research. We then moved to the importance of medical students’ reflective writing, process which allows students to become more aware of the emotional and relational aspects of the clinical encounter. And, in this context, we explored various options to the questions “Do patients’ stories matter? And, are doctors aware of their importance?” Dr. Warmington argues for a universal adoption of practices that promote dialogic engagement between medical students, clinical teachers, and patients, giving us lots of examples from her own research and clinical experience.

Here is the show.
Show Notes:

ethical mindfulness in research and clinical practice

reflective writing in medical teaching practice

how should we approach medical care?

toward a universal adoption for practices that promote dialogic engagement between students, clinical teachers, and patients.

Can empathy be taught? (The need to look for another way of framing the issues around the clinical encounter)

detached concern vs. engagement practice in medical encounters

Note:

Link to Dr. Warmington’s book:

"Storytelling encounters as medical education: crafting relational identity" is available on the Routledge website:

https://www.routledge.com/Storytelling-Encounters-as-Medical-Education-Crafting-Relational-Identity/Warmington/p/book/9781032177007#

Her research papers can be found on Google Scholar.

Next Episode

The Felt Experience of Reading: From Realist Fiction to Immersive Technologies (Part II)

This is episode #19 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 9th of June, 2022.

I interviewed Dr. Elaine Auyoung, Donald V. Hawkins Professor and Associate Professor of English at the University of Minnesota, and Affiliate Faculty of the Center for Cognitive Sciences. She is the author of “When Fiction Feels Real: Representation and the Reading Mind”, recently released in paperback from Oxford University Press. In addition to the project on “Unselfing” described on her faculty webpage, Elaine is also working on a book project on “Becoming Sensitive”, which uses cognitive research on expertise and perceptual learning to show how training in the arts and humanities prepares learners to notice and respond to information in ways that are important for future problem solving but have been difficult to assess.

We had a fascinating discussion on many important topics covered in Elaine’s book, but the episode went over the usual podcast duration, so I’ve decided to split it into two parts. This is Part II.

We continued our discussion from Part I on how to bridge the gap between readers’ experience and the experience of firsthand perception — i.e., how well can we know what we don’t experience directly? We then moved to the vocabulary of 'bereavement' addressing the question ‘What happens when novels end?” As always, we concluded with a discussion on technology covering e-books, multimedia experiences, and VR. Elaine was also happy to introduce us to her current project on ‘Becoming Sensitive’ where she debates the importance of the Arts and Humanities in preparing learners to make and represent information in ways that are important for future problem solving.

Here is the show.

Show Notes:

how well can we know what we don’t experience directly? (and limitations of language)
- leaving room between imagination and experience
- the vocabulary of 'bereavement': What happens when novels end?
- the future of digital books and the future of experiencing fiction in VR: 1st person vs. 3rd person immersion
- the role of language in immersive environments
- Elaine’s current project, ‘Becoming Sensitive’
- perceptual learning: the ability to differentiate one’s experience (preparing us for noticing or for being sensitive)

Dr. Auyoung’s faculty webpage:
https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/eauyoung

Link to paperback edition of Dr. Auyoung book:
https://www.amazon.com/When-Fiction-Feels-Real-Representation/dp/0197621279/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MMDE5NRJ6GV4&keywords=when+fiction+feels+real&qid=1650048589&sprefix=when+fiction+feels+real%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1