The narrative experience the reader undergoes while reading a story results from the combined activity of perceptual, cognitive and emotional processes. The course will examine how such an experience develops by unraveling the overt and covert mechanisms involved in its creation. We shell discuss the various ways by which narrative structure forms meaning, affects memory, shapes space and time, and brings about the active participation of the reader in the plot, both emotionally and cognitively. The course will be accompanied by selected demonstrations from literary and film narratives.