Understanding literary reading: The need for a scientific approach?

Review essay

Abstract

This is a review essay of Scientific Approaches to Literature in Learning Environments, edited by Olivia Fialho, Sonia Zyngier and Michael Burke (2016), a collection of essays that locate themselves within a philosophical framework that is different from my own. My aim in writing this essay is to reflect on how these essays speak to me, for all the differences between the ‘scientific' standpoint advocated by these researchers and my own position, and to find points of intersection between my approach towards literature and the approaches presented in this collection.