Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Inferring character from text : attribution theory and foregrounding theory.
AU - Culpeper, Jonathan
PY - 1996/4
Y1 - 1996/4
N2 - There is at present no theoretical framework that captures the processes involved in literary characterisation. In this paper, I focus on the issue of how and when people infer information about character from a text. Drawing upon work in social psychology, I assess and compare two attribution theories, both of which are designed to explain how we infer aspects of personality in real life situations. In particular, I highlight the apparent mutual incompatibility of these theories. In order to strengthen their theoretical position, I describe how these theories are analogous in particular ways with foregrounding theory, a theory which addresses issues to do with literary interpretation. In drawing this analogy, I demonstrate how the two attribution theories might be reconciled. Finally, I consider the operation of attribution theory in literary texts and demonstrate its power as a descriptive and explanatory framework.
AB - There is at present no theoretical framework that captures the processes involved in literary characterisation. In this paper, I focus on the issue of how and when people infer information about character from a text. Drawing upon work in social psychology, I assess and compare two attribution theories, both of which are designed to explain how we infer aspects of personality in real life situations. In particular, I highlight the apparent mutual incompatibility of these theories. In order to strengthen their theoretical position, I describe how these theories are analogous in particular ways with foregrounding theory, a theory which addresses issues to do with literary interpretation. In drawing this analogy, I demonstrate how the two attribution theories might be reconciled. Finally, I consider the operation of attribution theory in literary texts and demonstrate its power as a descriptive and explanatory framework.
U2 - 10.1016/0304-422X(95)00005-5
DO - 10.1016/0304-422X(95)00005-5
M3 - Journal article
VL - 23
SP - 335
EP - 361
JO - Poetics
JF - Poetics
SN - 0304-422X
IS - 5
ER -