What is it about?
Perspective embedding ("I went to the store" is zero, "She thought I went to the store" is one, etc.) is an important aspect of literature. Our earlier work showed that more embedding (1-5) results in more reading time (except for 0, which was between 3 and 4). The judgments of level were ours; are those judgments reliable? We trained 12 literature students to make those judgments. Overall, there was excellent agreement. The differences, and the reasons for them, were also of interest. Perspective embedding can thus be treated as another aspect of literature for study.
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Why is it important?
The amount of perspective embedding differs across authors and genres. Understanding this aspect of literature can help us understand why it is that fiction engages us.
Perspectives
Collaboration among literary scholars and experimental psychologists is relatively rare, and somewhat challenging. This paper, in my view, shows that the effort is worthwhile. We really can train student to make these ever-present but generally unrecognized judgments about whose perspective is represented in a sentence. This adds another dimension to the enjoyment and understanding of literature.
D. H. Whalen
City University of New York Graduate School and University Center
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Validating judgments of perspective embedding, Scientific Study of Literature, December 2016, International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature,
DOI: 10.1075/ssol.6.2.05wha.
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