The qualitative value of reading fiction : seven life stories about the meaning of reading fiction for elderly people – a study with features of life history

The purpose of this thesis is to form an idea about the qualitative value and meaning of reading fiction in a psychological perspective and over a lifetime. Seven women, 68-79 years old, were interviewed about their reading habits of fiction in their lifetime. The material is presented as life stories. I use an inter-nordic research project called the SKRIN project which looks upon reading habits from an individualistic and psychological perspective. I also refer to an American study which focus on reading development with roles readers take in different ages of life written by J A Appleyard. I use a Canadian paper which deals with reading fiction for emotional knowledge written by Catherine Sheldrick Ross. I touch upon two other fields of research; reading in the perspective of gender and reader-response criticism. The method I use is a combination of qualitative interviews, life history method and studies of literature. The study shows that literature of significant meaning is the fictional moods of realism, poetry, romance and detective stories. Particularly memorable books belong to the fictional moods realism and romance. Realism is important for identification, social understanding and social connection. Poetry is read for many reasons among them therapy in crisis. Reading romance appears to be of decisive importance psychologically for women. Detective stories are primarily read for relaxation and escape from reality. Many of the women in the study have been helped by books in different situations in life.Uppsatsnivå: