Research Symposium

BIO

My name is Daniel Penzenstadler and I'm a first year student from Denver Colorado on the Pre Med Track. I love to golf and ski and try to be outdoors as much as possible.

Reading and Feeling with Japanese Literature

Abstract

How do authors use literary techniques to convey sympathy and empathy within the reader? It's important to understand the value and impact that texts can have on one’s emotions and analyzing how you get certain emotions from certain bodies of texts is crucial in that. This is super relevant to readers and the audience because if they can understand this and look for it when they read or even are just having a conversation, then we can all become more self aware and emotionally mature and understand how what is said can be perceived. I have read multiple novels and looked for Jamesian precision and other literary devices and tried to analyze what emotions they invoke. I did this with multiple other people and we all collaborated on our ideas. No real framework was utilized in this process; it wasn't cookie cutter at all and was very subjective. We found that Jamesian precision and various literary techniques all got different results and levels of sympathy and empathy. It's far too much to put in this, very subjective though. They don't suggest a whole lot other than that literature can have serious implications on psychology and emotions. The implications are just that you can guarantee that good writing can have a serious emotional impact on the reader when done correctly.

Keywords: Sympathy Reading Feelings Literature Japanese