The Reader in Space: Play and Occupation of the Cities

Abstract

This article discusses the concept of a spatialized reader. To do this, the notions of reading and reader in Jouve (2002), Genette (1972), Jauss (1978) and Iser (1985) will be addressed, as well as the notions of ``the effect of reality"~in Barthes (1968), and those of ``character effect" in Jouve (1992). The notion of space will be analysed through literary geography and geocriticism, based on the theories of Collot (2011, 2014) and Westphal (2007). Moretti (2003, 2008) also plays a key role in the construction of the idea of reading. There is also a discussion on verisimilitude in Todorov (1972), Compagnon (1998) and Ricoeur (2000). To approach the concept of the spatial reader's experience, we apply a phenomenological approach to the theme of the reader based on Merleau-Ponty (1964). The article also proposes a literary game that involves the reader in space, developed by Polesso (2017).