Study of Emotion’s Use in Literature from an Interdisciplinary Perspective

A Reading of the Exemplary Novels

Abstract

Literary texts are full of emotions, one of the strategies most used by writers to attract the reader to literary work. Based on these emotions, the reader will be motivated to continue or abandon the reading. However, we know very little about writers' use of emotions. This work aims to propose an interdisciplinary model for the analysis of emotions in literary work. This model is built from the theory of emotions and literary analysis, considering also certain aspects of philosophy, psychology and sociology, taking into account the approaches from the time in which the text was written and how emotion was understood. The current study uses the texts of the Cervantes' Exemplary Novels as a starting point. The results show Cervantes's extensive use of emotions in his work and represent a beginning for the study of this aspect forgotten by literary criticism.