Maximum Occupancy: A creative and critical exploration of
how Text World Theory can be used when writing literary
texts to communicate emotional experience
Publication Date
August 4, 2021
Creator
Abstract
This thesis, consisting of a novel-length piece of creative writing, entitled Maximum Occupancy, and a critical research report, explores the extent to which an application of the cognitive poetics framework of Text World Theory during the creative writing process has an impact on the reader’s emotional experience of the creative text. It achieves this through an experimental research cycle of practice-led research and research-led practice. Firstly, a piece of creative writing is edited according to the ideas of Text World Theory, then qualitative data is collected through reader responses to two versions of the creative text before the responses are analysed to determine patterns in relation to emotional experience. Finally, the findings of the research are used to inform the rest of the creative writing process. Two data collection sessions were conducted on two separate pieces of writing through open ended questionnaires with the findings applied to the novel-length final outcome of the creative writing.
The aim of the thesis is to contribute primarily to the field of creative writing and secondarily to the field of cognitive poetics, as well as making suggestions for the practice of creative writing in the future. The results of the research demonstrate that Text World Theory can be a useful tool for creative writers, with the edits made resulting in more varied emotional reader responses, more explicit descriptions of feeling immersion, and less descriptions of feeling disconnected from the creative text. The thesis also argues that the results demonstrate that Text World Theory still has a role to play in the analysis of emotional experience in literature, and that it can be a tool for creativity as well as analysis.
Item Type
ethesis
Thesis Type
PhD
Supervisors
Subjects (LC)
Associated Schools / Departments
School of English (UK)
eprints ID
65150
UoN Repository URI
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Name
JUSTICE Steve Corrected Full Draft.pdf
Type
Full-text
Description
Examined. Corrections to thesis following viva examination
Size
4.86 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e0736dd7a3490a1b21544d7a762632e7
Name
Critical Component Only.pdf
Type
Full-text
Description
Reader. Critical Component of PhD Thesis by Steve Justice
Size
3.83 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ebe9dd20ed6b3c5c40683b19247cf702