Why We Read Fiction_ Theory of Mind and the Novel - Lisa Zunshine [99]
ways our emotions and perceptions;2 it bestows "new knowledge or increased understanding" and gives "the chance for a sharpened ethical sense";3 and it creates new forms of meaning for our everyday existence. All of this exploratory work is inextricably bound up with ToM, and the overall effect of it on the reader is not reducible to the sum of this narrative's engagements with our various cognitive adaptations. Some day we may have a conceptual framework that will allow us to speak about this overall effect—that "emergent meaning"4 of the literary narrative. In preparation for that sophisticated future, here is a very specific, modest, take-home claim from my book. I can say that I personally read fiction because it offers a pleasurable and intensive workout for my Theory of Mind. And, if you have indeed read this study of mine from cover to cover and followed attentively its arguments about Clarissa, Lolita, Arsene Lupin, and Mrs. Dalloway, I suspect that this is why you read fiction, too.