Radical Empathy in the Context of Literature

“Lou Agosta’s strong, persuasive book shows that empathy is the foundation of crucial human activities, literary fiction included. Written in a clear, reader-friendly language, it is a superb defense of simple, direct involvement in cultural activities as well as in mutual relationships. A great, durable achievement.” —Thomas Pavel, Gordon J. Laing Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Romance Languages and Literatures, Comparative Literature, the Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago, USA “The subject of this book has been a key focus of Romantic studies for a long time, but few have taken as their point of departure this shrewd insight: ‘Empathy degree zero is a description of the inaccessibility of the Other.’” —Jerome J. McGann, Professor at the University of Virginia, Emeritus, and author Culture and Language at Crossed Purposes (2022) “Empathy is a rigorous and critical method of engaging with the ‘Other’ (whether in person or vicariously through fiction). Lou Agosta has been navigating this territory with a keen sense of direction over the past decade or more. His insights are so on the mark that they constitute a must read for those interested in the levels and process of empathy and its full expression through ‘radical empathy.’ You will find that this book will heighten your receptivity and understanding of fictive narratives and thereby deepen your interpretation of literary texts. I recommend it for everyone who seeks to deepen their engagement with life outside themselves. This book is really worth it.” —Michael Boylan, author Fictive Narrative Philosophy (2019) and College Professor of Philosophy at Marymount University, USA In this book, Lou Agosta explains, using literary examples, that readers require radical empathy to relate to, process, and overcome bad things happening to good people (for example: moral and physical trauma, double binds, soul murder, and behavior in extreme situations.) A definition of radical empathy in the context of literature emerges: Empathic distress occurs, but one’s commitment to the Other is such that one empathizes in the face of empathic distress. One’s empathic commitment to the survivor enables the survivor to recover her/his humanness, integrity, and relatedness. This work engages how the impact and cost of empathic distress affect the different aspects of empathic receptivity, empathic understanding, empathic interpretation, and empathic responsiveness, delivering a breakthrough and transformation in relating to the Other. The intersection of literature and empathy is the place in which the literary artwork transfigures the face of trauma, overcoming empathic distress, and allowing radical empathy to enable the fragmented Other to recover her/his integrity. Additionally, the book does not merely tell the reader about radical empathy in the context of the literary art work; it delivers an experience of radical empathy in context in empathy’s receptivity, understanding, interpretation and responsiveness. Lou Agosta is an empathy consultant and the author of three academic books on empathy, including A Rumor of Empathy. His PhD in philosophy (University of Chicago) was on empathy. He lectures on the medical humanities at Ross University School of Medicine, Chicago, USA, where he delivers literary empathy lessons.