Experiencing emotions through literature. A case study of "Prosperity Drive" by Mary Morrissy (PDF)

Case Study from the year 2022 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Tubingen (Seminar für Anglistik), course: Powerful Prose, language: English, abstract: The aim of this paper is to study emotions in literature, but specifically not the emotional response of a given actual reader, but the emotional responses connected to the authorial intention and an imagined authorial audience. Although the authorial intention can obviously not be fully grasped without consulting the author itself and without accumulating quite specific data surrounding the life of the author and the creation process of the text, this paper serves as one possible interpretation of the primary source and its emotional framework. Especially as there are none to be found so far about this particular source.

The primary source for this paper will be the short story collection "Prosperity Drive" published in 2016 by Irish writer Mary Morrissy. As an illustration of the conveyed emotions, then, the aspects of narrative mode, choice of words and texture features have been chosen because they encompass many areas in which the authorial intention of emotional conveyance can be observed and shall be analysed through a close-reading approach. Because of the above-mentioned points of subjectivity, however, this does by no means represent an exhaustive list.