Abstract
This paper argues that to adopt a “naturalized morals” perspective,
and to match it with narrative studies, may help advance the study of
empathy and its relation to multi-cultural ethics within the larger
study of audience involvement. Firstly, different texts may convey
different morals, and therefore require different audiences adhering to
different morals in order to obtain a preferred or negotiated reading.
This invites us to reconsider some old concepts (e.g. anti-hero) as well
as some newer ones (e.g. the “bad fan”). Secondly, if studies of
empathy tend to focus on character (dis)liking, narratologists generally
adopt a wider view, involving multiple narrative agents including real
makers, implied makers, narrator(s), narratee(s), implied audience(s)
and real audience(s). Adopting this wider view allows for a more refined
study of empathy that may play (or not) as a more diversified phenomenon
at multiple levels. Thirdly, empathy is not the only player in this
game. A brief introduction to phenomena such as prank culture and hate
reading/watching suggests that a study of empathy needs to look also at
some competitors in the field of audience involvement.