This study updates reader-response criticism as the foundation of aesthetic reading in the classroom by bringing it in line with cognitive theories in literary studies and linguistics. Such a framework facilitates a consistent theoretical approach to autobiographical comics.

Introduction 1 Reader-Response Criticism 1.1 Reading as a Journey 1.2 Rosenblatt’s Transactional Theory 1.3 Frames 1.4 Iser’s Model of Meaning-Making 1.5 The Overdetermination of Literary Texts 2 Transaction in Educational Settings 2.1 The Ease of Reading 2.2 The Teacher of Literature as a Facilitator 2.3 Reading in Stages Stage 1: Framing Stage 2: Reading Stage 3: Think-Tank Stage 4: Lockstep Stage 5: Rereading Stage 6: Conclusions Stage 7: Closure 2.4 Learner Texts & Activities 3 Cognitive (Literary) Studies 3.1 The Return of the Reader 3.2 Mental Models 3.3 Emotions & Empathy 3.3.1 The Feeling of What Happens 3.3.2 Types of Reading-Related Feelings 3.3.3 Transportation 3.3.4 Empathy 3.4 Embodied Cognition & Enactivism 3.5 Conceptual Metaphors & Blending 3.5.1 Basic Principles 3.5.2 Metaphors 3.5.3 Metonymies 3.5.4 Blending 3.6 Blending & Literary Studies 4 Cognitive Approaches to Comics 4.1 Synopsis 4.2 Definitions 4.3 Cartooning 4.4 An Art of Tensions 4.4.1 Words vs. Images 4.4.2 Image vs. Series/Sequence 4.4.3 Sequence vs. Page 4.4.4 Experience vs. Object 4.5 A Cognitive Reading of Craig Thompson’s Blankets (Chapter I) 5 Autobiographical Comics 5.1 The Conceptual Ambiguity of Autobiography 5.1.1 A Struggle with Definitions 5.1.2 A Brief History of Autographics 5.1.3 Autographical Challenges to Autobiographical Genre Theory 5.2 Life Writing & Blending 5.2.1 The Autobiographical Act as Blending 5.2.2 Developing Autobiographical Reasoning 5.2.3 Autobiographical Memory 5.2.4 Photographic Evidence 5.3 Authenticity & Emotional Truth 5.4 Autobiographical Selves 5.5 Embodiment & Enaction 5.6 Types of Autobiographical Comics Conclusion List of Illustrations Bibliography