Everything Is True

Share this post

Fiction and Empathy

adahoffmann.substack.com

Fiction and Empathy

Fiction reading seems to increase empathy - but "empathy" is such a loaded concept for autistic people...

Ada Hoffmann
Nov 21, 2022
6
4
Share this post

Fiction and Empathy

adahoffmann.substack.com

I’m continuing to (slowly) read Keith Oatley's "Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction" and I'm struck by his research into fiction and empathy. It's so tricky to interpret research like this when, on the one hand, so much of it resonates with my gut feeling about what fiction is for; yet on the other hand, so much of it draws on the kind of junk science about empathy that dehumanizes autistic people, and the rest leaves nagging questions with me about where autistic people fit into the framework being drawn.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Everything Is True to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2023 Ada Hoffmann
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing