Phenomenology of the Novel, or How Do Novels Teach?

Abstract

APART from being a poetic account for reading novels for (the sake of) reading, the use of this article for the thesis derives from its emphasis on WHY FICTION MATTERS. Fiction solicits an experience of the world and then elicits a reflective interpretation of the textual experience. Thus, fiction offers a double, but subtle pedagogy: it cultivates our pre-reflective and our reflective life. To read is to become experienced. And due to reflective consequences of the reading experience, it means to come to know oneself.