It has long remained a tacit assumption in hermeneutics and literary theory that works of imaginative literature have the potential to change the reader's self. Literature and Transformation develops a method called Intimate Reading to investigate how ordinary readers are deeply moved by what they read and the transformative impact such experiences have on their sense of self. The book presents unique narratives of such experiences and suggests a theory of transformative affective patterns that may form the basis of an affective literary theory
