Romantic Love and Grief in Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh”: A Sketch of a Cognitive Narratological Perspective

The article investigates the structure of romance and grief narrative included in Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh,” on the basis of Patrick C. Hogan’s th eory of literary universals and his work on aff ective narratology. Following Hogan, I argue that emotions are deeply embedded in stories and that stories are typically designed so as to manipulate the aff ective responses of their readers. I will focus on the way the story depicts prototypical stages of romance and grief and where it deviates from universal narratives involving concerning grief, separation, attachment, and romantic love, arguing that the aff ective and aesthetic potential of the story lies precisely in where it departs from these prototypical narratives. At the same time, I shall speculate on how discourse organization manipulates the formation of aff ective schemata and empathic alignment in readers.