| Title | Hearing and Feeling with Justine |
|---|---|
| Contributor | Will McMorran (author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0488.02 |
| Landing page | https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0488/chapters/10.11647/obp.0488.02 |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Will McMorran; |
| Publisher | Open Book Publishers |
| Published on | 2025-09-24 |
| Long abstract | This chapter examines the aural and kinaesthetic aspects of reading. It begins by showing the somatic power attributed to reading and listening in eighteenth-century fiction, including works by Sade, before concentrating on a scene from Justine in which the heroine is raped by the monk, Sévérino. Adducing evidence from questionnaires once again, this chapter shares what the respondents heard when they read this scene, before investigating the disturbing ways in which violent texts may trigger sensory responses including kinaesthesis and vicarious pain. Drawing on conceptions of empathy past and present, and recent research in neuroscience, this chapter reveals unsettling evidence that readers inhabit scenes of violence as perpetrators and victims rather than as bystanders. |
| Page range | pp. 83–136 |
| Print length | 54 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
Will McMorran is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Queen Mary University of London. He has published several articles and book chapters on Sade and the history of his reception, and has edited and translated two of his works: 'The 120 Days of Sodom' (2016) for Penguin Classics with Thomas Wynn, which was awarded the Scott Moncrieff Prize, and The Marquise de Gange (2021) for Oxford World’s Classics. His work as a translator has also included several stories for 'The Penguin Book of French Short Stories' (2022), and Philippe Brenot’s graphic history, 'The Story of Sex' (2016).