Chapter 12. On how and why experience-oriented readers read literature

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Chapter 12
On how and why experience-oriented readers read literature

Published online: 15 January 2026

Article outline

On the psychology of experience-inviting discourse
and experience-oriented reading
On empirical and non-empirical approaches to the psychology of literature
On why people read literature
On the question of how people read literature
Application
The many faces of application
Application criticized and defended
Other partial explanations of literary response
Concluding remarks
Notes