UVAŽOVANIE O EMOCIONÁLNOM VÝZNAME LITERATÚRY V KOGNITÍVNEJ A SANSKRITSKEJ LITERÁRNEJ VEDE

Art and literature relate to emotions and affections in the experience of readers. However, literary studies in general exclude emotion from their analysis and instead focus on the propositional content of literature. It seems that there is no reliable way of grasping them. The current cognitive and neuroscience research shows that emotions play apart in cognitive processes. Moreover, emotion is not seen as the opposite of thought. On the contrary, it is bound up with cognition. The role of emotion in literary reading has become an increasingly important topic in cognitive literary studies. Especially Reuven Tsur, Keith Oatley, Patrik Colm Hogan, Jenefer Robinson and Michael Burke have presented theories of emotional engagement with literature. The traditional Sanskrit literary studies with their focus on the emotional effect of literature have informed the current affective theories. The paper analyses and evaluates the significance of Sanskrit literary theory to the current debate on emotional engagement with literature. It argues that the fact about the converging development of both literary-critical traditions defies a two wide notion of cultural difference and creates the possibility of a transcultural approach to literature.