Is the reader actually an editor of the text? Can one predict literary enjoyment from eye movements? What is the difference between reading a novel and a graphic novel? Can you distinguish between a manmade poeme and one generated by an algorithm?

Literary theory is thousands of years old, but only lately researches began empirical investigations of these issues. The course will examine how experiments struggle to explain literary phenomena with cognitive concepts. We shall examine the use of new methodologies (like eye tracking and brain imaging) and wonder do they give a privileged peek into the reader's mind.  The course will include short "class experiments", in which the participants will experience and replicate classical experiments.  On the second half of the course we will focus on less conventional "texts": graphic novels, digital interactive literature, algorithmic poetry, slam poetry and even Hollywood cinema.