Reader, who are you now?

The question ‘How do people read?’ continues to be the subject of ongoing empirical research in a wide range of disciplinary fields, including but not limited to literary studies, cognitive poetics, book and media studies, psychology of fiction and neuroscience. Kamila Augustyn (University of Wroclaw) presents the results of a qualitative study of adult Polish readers from different ages and occupations, exploring their motivations for reading and the circumstances that can influence the reading experience. Testimonies gathered through in-depth interviews tell us how avid readers engage with books, how they feel while reading and see the ways in which their reading behavior changes over time as they gain life experiences and explore different genres, types and forms of books.
As this is an exploratory study, its scope covers all aspects of reading books, whether for leisure, required reading or for professional purposes. The research adopts Kathy Charmaz’s approach based on the grounded theory developed by Anselm Strauss and Barney Glaser. In alignment with the constructivist paradigm, knowledge is not merely discovered, but rather created. Therefore, Reader, who are you now does not reveal an objective reality, but instead how readers construct narratives about themselves. The empirical material collected is divided into three sections: The first focuses on the preparation for reading, the second on the act of reading itself, and the third on what happens after reading. In order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the cognitive and emotional processes involved in reading, the analysis of readers’ statements is supported by findings from various disciplines, including book and literary studies, the psychology of fiction and emotion, and cognitive science.