In:Literature as Experience-Inviting Discourse
Anders Pettersson
[FILLM Studies in Languages and Literatures 22] 2026
► pp. vii–x
Published online: 15 January 2026
https://doi.org/10.1075/fillm.22.toc
https://doi.org/10.1075/fillm.22.toc
Table of contents
Series editor’s prefaceXI
PrefaceXIII
Author bioXV
Introduction: Three questions1
Part I.Verbal communication
Chapter 1.The ordinary-language model of verbal communication
and a revised model6
and a revised model6
Michael Reddy and the conduit metaphor8
A revised model of verbal communication10
The revised model and consensus meaning13
“Verbal meaning” and “consensus meaning”15
The expressive resources of revised-model language16
Concluding remarks18
Chapter 2.The revised model and the idea of a literary work20
Ontological problems with the idea of literary works as genuine objects22
Can abstract entities be created?23
Can one read an abstract object?26
Do we need abstract literary works for assessing the adequacy
of exemplars of works?28
of exemplars of works?28
Are references to literary works ineliminable?29
Concluding remarks31
Chapter 3.The revised model and the idea of utterance meaning32
Utterance meaning and the code model33
Utterance meaning and the inferential model34
Utterance meaning and hypothetical intentionalism37
Attempts to prove that there is a truth about what literary works mean39
The revised model and conservativeness41
The revised model and mentalism about meaning43
Concluding remarks44
Chapter 4.On descriptions of reality45
The idea of a mind-independent world46
Irrealism about entities47
Does irrealism about entities deprive the world of inner differences?50
Irrealism about entities and scepticism about “hard ontology”52
Irrealism about entities and scepticism about conceptual schemes55
Why irrealism about entities makes a difference57
Irrealism and the aims behind my book58
Part II.Experience-inviting discourse and the concept of literature
Chapter 5.The concept of literature and its uses62
On the history of the concept of literature62
The concept of literature today64
The concept of literature and the present study66
In what way does literature exist?68
Concluding remarks69
Chapter 6.Experience-inviting discourse and literature as an art71
The informative, the directive, and the experience-inviting71
Literature as an art and experience-inviting discourse75
Why use the concept of literature at all? On the raison d’être of my book76
An example of experience-inviting discourse: Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun78
On the experience of reading Klara and the Sun79
More about experience-inviting discourse81
The distinctiveness of the concept of experience-inviting discourse83
Experience-inviting discourse and the use of language in literature85
Concluding remarks86
Chapter 7.The diversity of literature in the art sense88
Kalidasa’s Shakuntala89
Li Bai’s “Thoughts in a Quiet Night”91
Jane Austen’s Emma93
Franz Kafka’s “The Judgement”94
Nongenile Masithathu Zenani’s “The Boy and the Lizard”96
On generalizations about literature97
Concluding remarks100
Part III.Experience-oriented reading and literary criticism
Chapter 8.About works and meanings in literary-critical discourse104
About innocent references to works and meanings106
Literary works as genuine objects108
Literary works as agents performing acts on their own109
Jonathan Culler about the nature of meaning in literature110
Derek Attridge about the nature of literary works112
Catherine Belsey and poststructuralist theories of meaning in literature114
Concluding remarks116
Chapter 9.Two kinds of reading: Critical and experience-oriented117
Critical reading118
The idea that critics are expert readers119
The difference in purpose between critical
and experience-oriented reading121
and experience-oriented reading121
Literature as an affordance and literature as an object of knowledge122
The idea that there is a right way of reading literature123
Concluding remarks125
Chapter 10.Sixteen experience-oriented readers127
Two of Richards’ readers128
Three of Hansson’s readers132
Holland’s five readers135
Pette’s six readers139
Concluding remarks142
Chapter 11.On evaluating acts of experience-oriented reading144
Understanding experience-inviting discourse144
Appropriating experience-inviting discourse146
About highly personal appropriation of experience-inviting discourse147
On evaluating acts of experience-oriented reading149
Another case of highly personal appropriation: A discussion in a book club150
Do we have to evaluate the ways in which experience-oriented
readers read?152
readers read?152
Chapter 12.On how and why experience-oriented readers read literature154
On the psychology of experience-inviting discourse
and experience-oriented reading155
and experience-oriented reading155
On empirical and non-empirical approaches
to the psychology of literature156
to the psychology of literature156
On why people read literature157
On the question of how people read literature160
Application160
The many faces of application162
Application criticized and defended164
Other partial explanations of literary response165
Concluding remarks166
Conclusion: A view of literature168
Works cited171
Index
