Speaker: Julia de Jonge @juliadejonge
Affiliation: ELIT network; University of Verona; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Title: Fiction Reading and Morality Shifts
Abstract (long version below): This poster presents an overview of my PhD-project on the ambiguity of bad morality of fictional characters, and the consequences of this moral ambiguity for narrative empathy and aesthetic appreciation.
During my PhD, I’ve studied different processes that potentially lead to empathy and aesthetic appreciation for morally bad fictional figures – such as moral judgment and moral disengagement. As the main hypothesis, I argue that a shift in morality is needed before one can appreciate or empathize with an immoral figure – this shift in morality can be established through fictionality (vs. biographical), perceived reality, or through sharing your reading experience with others (e.g., Shared Reading).
Julia de Jonge - IGEL 2023 poster B1 (70 × 100 cm).pdf (300.0 KB)
Long abstract
This poster presents an overview of my PhD-project on the ambiguity of bad morality of fictional characters, and the consequences of this moral ambiguity for narrative empathy and aesthetic appreciation.
During my PhD, I’ve studied different processes that potentially lead to empathy and aesthetic appreciation for morally bad fictional figures – such as moral judgment and moral disengagement. As the main hypothesis, I argue that a shift in morality is needed before one can appreciate or empathize with an immoral figure – this shift in morality can be established through fictionality (vs. autobiographical), perceived reality, or through sharing your reading experience with others (e.g., Shared Reading). The first three studies discussed are experimental studies, with data sets between 100 and 250 participants. Measures and statistical evidence for these studies will be presented at IGEL Conference. The dataset of the fourth study consists of observations and interviews with three Shared Reading groups. Coding schemes and open interpretations will be discussed during the IGEL conference.
For my first study in this area, The Kindly Ones (2006) by Jonathan Littell was used. The novel recounts the memories of an SS-officer, Maximilian Aue, who participated in the Holocaust. Passages were presented to readers under either of two conditions: as a fictional text or as part of an autobiography. Results showed that fictionalization has a significant effect on moral disengagement; readers who read the narrative presented to them as fictional experienced higher levels of moral disengagement compared to readers in the autobiography condition – which means they were more receptive to Aue’s defensiveness of his past. Moreover, higher levels of moral disengagement led to significantly higher levels of empathy for the protagonist of the novel.
In the second study, participants were presented with an adapted version of the first chapter from Jose Saramago’s Blindness (1995/1996) featuring one of three constructed (im)moral protagonists: a Nazi (evil), a corrupt prison guard (bad), and a doctor (good). The unique contribution of this study lies in the separation of constructed character morality as intended by the author, and the perception of character morality by the reader expressed in moral judgment. Furthermore, the constructed moral nature of the fictional figure as intended by the author is balanced by readers’ perception or moral judgment of the character’s morality in their aesthetic appreciation.
In all, this study shows that moral nature and aesthetic appreciation are not one-dimensional constructions in a fictional work, but rather nuanced by the reader or observer in more ambiguous and mixed ways.
The third study seeks to combine the most important variables from the first and second study, and dive deeper in the notion of nuanced and mixed perspectives on characters, regardless of the intended morality. For this study, participants were presented an adapted version of Emma Zunz, by Jorge Luis Borges (1949/2004) that was introduced as either fictional or biographical. With this study, I examined the relationships between the variables of the previous studies, e.g., if perceived reality depends on genre presentation, and if high moral disengagement predicts good moral judgment. In all, I hope to build a model, showing that the interaction between perceived realism, moral disengagement and moral judgement results in higher empathy and aesthetic appreciation of a morally bad character. The data for this study is collected, but not analysed yet. Results will be discussed during the poster presentation.
Finally, I examined the process that leads to acceptance of bad morality in fictional characters through qualitative research in the realm of Shared Reading. Multiple Shared Reading groups read and discussed the literary short story A Fine Business (Goede Zaken, Ditslevsen, 1963/2023). In focus groups immediately afterwards, participants answered questions about the moral disengagement process. Qualitative interpretation of the reading group transcripts and focus group interview will explore how participants formed their ultimate moral judgment of the character. The answers in the focus group discussions and the qualitative interpretations will be discussed alongside the reading group transcripts. The data for this study is collected, but not analysed yet. Results will be discussed during the poster presentation.
References
Borges, J. L. (2004). Emma Zunz (A. Hurley, Trans.). In The Aleph. Penguin. (Original work published in 1949)
De Jonge, J., Demichelis, S., Rebora, S., & Salgaro, M. (2022). Operationalizing perpetrator studies. Focusing readers’ reactions to The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. Journal of Literary Semantics, 51(2), 147–161. doi:10.1515/jls-2022-2057
Ditlevsen, T. (2023). Goede Zaken (L. Post-Oostenbrink, Trans.) In Kwaad geluk. Das Mag Uitgeverij B.V. (Orginal work published in 1963)
Littell. J. (2014). Le Benevole (M. Botto, Trans.). Einaudi. (Original work published in 2006)
Saramago, J. (1996). Cecità (R. Desti, Trans.). Einaudi. (Original work published in 1995)