Den talande bokens poetik - Doria

Abstract
The purpose of the research project The poetics of the talking book is to contribute to the
knowledge about patterns of understanding in young adults’ reception of fiction, which
they listened to through audio books. The problem explored was: How do different
groups of listeners receive fictive text presented as a talking book with variations
regarding use of voice, engagement and sound effects? The problem formulation
rendered four specific research questions:
1. What patterns can be identified in the listeners’ answers regarding story
structure and cognitive content in a comparative perspective comprising
different reading styles in the taped versions of the text?
2. What patterns of understanding in interpretative reading can be identified
in different listeners?
3. Which thoughts do the listeners have about what the talking book should
sound like?
4. What affordances for young adults with the functional disability of mild
mental retardation can be made visible through guided literature
conversations?
The theoretical frame of reference was formed by text–reader-oriented literary theory,
psychological schema theory, and research regarding voice quality and communication.
The project was carried out in two steps. The first phase was to produce the audio books
with two variations of reading practice of three short stories with an existential theme in
each text. The second step comprised interviewing of 32 young adults (a special group
with a reading handicap in form of mild mental retardation, and a reference group with
no handicap). The interviews formed as literary conversation were carried out three
times during one year.
The phenomenological-hermeneutic approach focused on the life worlds of the
participants as meaning seeking beings. The analysis was carried out using method
triangulation, mainly using phenomenological meaning concentration. The double
hermeneutics in use when interpreting the interpretations of the participants revealed a
capacity for aesthetic reading of fiction in the special group as well as in the reference
group. The aesthetic qualities were found sufficient in all variations of reading by the
professional readers of the audio book they listened to. The young adults also could
describe how they wanted the audio book to sound: just as if you were reading yourself.
A model describing the analytical steps and concepts in use was a result that can serve as
an outline of a poetics for the talking book. Unexpected research results were how
important the guided literary conversation turned out to be in order to realise the
affordances given by the texts regarding exploration of existential themes in the young
adults’ life worlds.
Thus the result of the research project can be positioned as a piece of emancipatory
research stressing the importance of including this group of young adults in the society’s
conversation about culture and meaning.
Key words: literature conversation, young adults, mild mental retardation, audio books,
cultural rights.