Literary Reading, Cognition and Emotion

The study delves into the cognitive and emotional processes experienced by readers during literary engagement. It explores how emotions influence literary text processing and examines the interplay of bottom-up and top-down inputs in this experience. The concept of "reader epiphany" is highlighted, focusing on the intense emotions that can arise while reading. Burke posits that the engaged reading experience is fluid and dynamic, suggesting that the human mind functions more like an ocean than a mechanical system, emphasizing the complexity of this cultural-cognitive interaction.