Reading and psychic recovery : therapeutic potential of the literary device
type: Dataset
description: This research is interested in the therapeutic potential of literary reading and looks for a better understanding of the literary device, particularly in its interaction with the reader. Basing our work on fictional worlds theory, we make the hypothesis that literary work induces a simulation of the reader’s psychic life. Using the semiotic channel of the text and according to representation devices, the reader seizes the words’ sense and adapts the story for himself. As an aesthetic experience, literary reading calls for the reader’s past experiences and engages his emotions in a different way than any other type of discourse. The gesture of reading already implies a certain subjectivity for the reader and we can therefore, as we take a closer interest to text-reader interaction, imagine a therapeutic use of literature. Proposing literary work as a support for psychic development, we have designed, ran and evaluated therapeutic reading and writing sessions in three mental health infrastructures, in Toulouse and Montreal. Destined to a psychotic audience, these reading sessions are based on art therapy principles and concretize the (re)constructive aspect of literary reading within our theoritical reflection. On one hand, our observations challenge the literary studies perspective, the function of the literary work and the activity of the reader and, on the other hand, they lead on therapeutic propositions for reading and writing sessions in a psychiatric context.
identifier: NNT: 2012TOU20117
issued: 2026-05-10T07:29:09.812478
language: fr
modified: 2026-05-10T07:29:09.812482
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD
keyword: art-therapy-sessions
keyword: atelier-dart-therapie
keyword: fictional-worlds
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsdoctoralthesis
keyword: lecture-literaire
keyword: literary-reading
keyword: mondes-fictionnels
keyword: psychose
keyword: psychosis
keyword: shslitthumanities-and-social-sciencesliterature
keyword: shspsyhumanities-and-social-sciencespsychology
keyword: theses
landing page: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00846001

Reading and psychic recovery : therapeutic potential of the literary device
type: Distribution
format: HTML
issued: 2026-05-10T07:29:09.827513
modified: 2026-05-10T07:29:09.801178
access URL: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00846001

test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent