Narrative Cognition in the Virtual World: Contemporary Western Poetics of Immersion and Their Problems

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Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2023, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5) : 216-226.

Issue in Focus: Studies of the Media-Tech Poetics

Narrative Cognition in the Virtual World: Contemporary Western Poetics of Immersion and Their Problems

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Abstract

Recently, “immersion”, a technical term in virtual reality, has gained attention in narratological studies and has been applied to the construction of multimedia theories. While the emphases and interpretations of different immersion theories are diverse, they share the focus on readers' and/or users' narrative experience and cognitive process, in order to break away from classical narratology and herald the digital turn. Among all these theories, Janet H. Murray, Marie-Laure Ryan and Michael Heim exemplify three approaches to exploring immersive experience in the digital world. Among them, Murray investigates immersion in “low-tech” narrative, Ryan constructs a general poetics of immersion beyond media, and Heim explores “ultimate display” from the unique sensory experience of “high-tech” narrative. Immersion is pivotal to the understanding of narrative cognition in the digital age. Clarifying different approaches is the premise of understanding the technological intervention and aesthetical change in contemporary narratological theories.

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immersion / virtual reality / narrative cognition / Marie-Laure Ryan / Janet H. Murray

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Narrative Cognition in the Virtual World: Contemporary Western Poetics of Immersion and Their Problems[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2023, 43(5): 216-226

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