Consciousness

Abstract This chapter revisits three common ideas about how our consciousness works when we read fiction. First, the chapter contests the notion that the reading consciousness is a container of sorts, containing a circumscribed amount of textual stimulus. Second, an argument is presented against the view that readers abstract their personal concerns away in reading, and that they do so with benefit. Third, the chapter shows how the reading consciousness encompasses rather than excludes the physical situation and environment of reading. For each idea revisited, the chapter discusses practical implications for how reading could be taught, assessed, and staged in educational settings.