Articles

Abstract

Why does fiction move us? Jenefer Robinson (Deeper than Reason) argues that emotions begin as immediate, physiologically-based appraisals that kick in before cognition, so belief in what sparks the emotion is not necessary. But how would fiction, which we experience through cognition, trigger such appraisals? I argue that writers such as Dostoevsky use narrative devices such as ambiguity, unreliable narration and complex emotional states or «emotional dissonance» in characters to move us emotionally. These techniques engage us in a process of active reconstruction of a narrative’s content, mirroring how we engage with experience, thereby creating real emotional responses.