The Seduction of Fiction: A Plea for Putting Emotions Back Into Literary Interpretation by Jean-François Vernay
The Seduction of Fiction: A Plea for Putting Emotions Back Into Literary Interpretation by Jean-François Vernay English translation by Carolyne Lee Arabic translation by Fuad Abdul Muttaleb Because of my connection with Fuad Abdul Muttaleb, I learned of Vernay’s book and am very happy to have obtained a copy. Vernay is concerned not only with declining interest in literature studies, but also with how the teaching of literature can be too alienating for students because it takes much of the emotion and joy out of reading: Scholars and teachers can seem more interested in forcing literature to fit into the too-restrictive boxes of various literary-critical schools of thought, so instead of being immersed in the experience of reading, literature is used as a screen upon which scholars and instructors project their predetermined literary-critical ideologies. Chapter 3 begins with an abstract: “Acknowledging the influence of New Criticism on literary studies, Vernay notes that conceptualiz...