Negative Empathy in Literature and the Arts

It introduces the concept of "negative empathy" to examine how readers and viewers engage emotionally and cognitively with ethically troubling artworks. Through a comparative and intermedial approach, it offers a compelling new theory of aesthetic engagement with representations of negativity in art.

Stefano Ercolino teaches literary theory and comparative literature at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. He is the author of The Maximalist Novel: From Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" to Roberto Bolaño's "2666" and The Novel-Essay, 1884-1947. He co-edited Experimental Criticism: Franco Moretti and Literature. Massimo Fusillo teaches comparative literature at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. He is the author of several books, including The Fetish: Literature, Cinema, Visual Art. He co-edited The Gesamtkunstwerk as Synergy of the Arts and Thinking Narratively: Between Novel-Essay and Narrative Essay.

List of Figures Why Negative Empathy? 1. History and Theory of an Idea 1.1 Resonance and Distance 1.2 Empathetic Suffering 1.3 Identification, Catharsis, Stimmung 2. Seductions of Rhetoric 2.1 Inner Torment, Psychological Complexity, Eloquence 2.2 Brothers in the Night: Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones 3. In the Rhythm of the Scene 3.1 Tragic Lacerations 3.1.1 Empathy and Estrangement 3.1.2 Medea's Theatricality 3.1.3 Repeating the Abnormal Act: Robert Wilson's Deafman Glance 3.2 The Force of the Voice 3.2.1 The Dramaturgy of the Antagonist in Melodrama 3.2.2 A Broken and Expressionist Song: Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth 3.3 Beyond Representation 3.3.1 Shadowy Actions 3.3.2 The Ecstasy of Ritual Dismemberment: Hermann Nitsch's Theater of Orgies and Mysteries 4. Nostalgia and Anguish for Life 4.1 The Power of Images, the Power of Empathy 4.2 Stimmungseinfühlung 4.3 Abstraction against Empathy 4.4 Embodied Vision: Caravaggio's Martyrdom of St. Matthew 5. The Multiplied Gaze 5.1 On Medusa's Side 5.1.1 The Frozen Moment 5.1.2 Power Games 5.1.3 Aestheticizing the Extreme: Robert Mapplethorpe's "X" Portfolio 5.2 Labyrinths of Perception 5.2.1 Immersive Environments 5.2.2 Among the Ruins of History: Anselm Kiefer's Seven Heavenly Palaces 6. Audiovisual Simulations 6.1 In the Darkness of Their Eyes 6.1.1 Identifying with Bad People 6.1.2 Empathizing with a Community: Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon 6.2 Serial Pleasures 6.2.1 TV Antiheroes 6.2.2 Challenging Empathy: Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad Bibliography Index