Empirical Studies of Literature

This collection of papers from the 6th conference of the International Society for the Study of Empirical Study of Literature (IGEL) brings together a range of essays concerned with understanding the place and role of literature in its social, historical, psychological, and linguistic dimensions. The sixth conference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature, or IGEL, was held in August 1998 in Utrecht, Holland. The conference brought together a wide range of scholars concerned with understanding the place and role of literature in its social, historical, psychological, linguistic, and other dimensions, and who seek to advance our knowledge through empirical methods or more effective theoretical perspectives that may lead to empirical research. This special issue is based on papers from this conference, and represents just a small part of its rich variety.