The aesthetic experience, as theorized by Wolfgang Iser, emerges from the text-reader interaction. This experience is inherently virtual, as it is not confined to either of the poles that would render it concrete: neither exclusively to the text (artistic pole) nor solely to the reader (aesthetic pole). However, it is heuristically inadmissible for any academic work centered on text-reader interaction to neglect the analysis of each of these poles. As researchers, it is our duty to engage in this interactional “game”, seeking possible meanings through the phenomena explored within this theoretical methodological framework, in dialogue with other fields of knowledge. The successful holding of the First National Congress of Iserian Studies in 2022, along with the growing need to disseminate research in this field beyond Brazil, have inspired us to organize the First International Congress of Iserian Studies, scheduled for July 2025. Your participation will significantly contribute to advancing the study of text-reader dynamics and to exploring the broader implications of Iser’s work within contemporary research.

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The event will feature conferences, round tables, oral presentations, and workshops. Participation in all modalities will be free of charge, and the event will take place online via Microsoft Teams platform. CIEI will accept proposals for workshops and oral contributions. For more information, please click on the menu corresponding to the activity.

 

Information about registration for attendees and workshops participants will be announced in June.

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The oral contributions will follow these thematic axes:

 

Axis 1 – Aesthetic Experience and Literature: New Perspectives

Axis 1 welcomes theoretical texts that connect the aesthetic experience with literature, associating Wolfgang Iser’s Theory of Aesthetic Response and/or Literary Anthropology with new perspectives on the study of the history of literature, literary theory, and literary reading. These submissions aim to provide reflections and insights to the field of literary studies.

 

Axis 2 – Aesthetic Experience and Education: Classroom Articulations

Axis 2 welcomes oral communications grounded in Wolfgang Iser’s Theory of Aesthetic Response and/or Literary Anthropology, focusing on reflections, practices, as well as methodological, curricular, and legislative discussions related to the teaching of literature and literary reading. In this sense, beyond his theoretical contributions to literary studies, Iser’s principles also provide possibilities for application in the school environment — whether by supporting teaching practices or by offering applicable methodological tools.

 

Axis 3 – Aesthetic Experience and Theory: Wolfgang Iser and Contemporary Developments

Axis 3 welcomes works that connect Wolfgang Iser’s Theory of Aesthetic Response and/or Literary Anthropology to other fields of study, such as psychoanalysis, history, psychology, philosophy, advertising, linguistics, Black studies, and more. This axis also includes connections to other theories from the field of literature and other forms of fiction, such as cinema, visual arts, and video games. It seeks to propose advancements, contributions, critiques, or expanded perspectives on Iser’s relevance to contemporary academic studies.

 

Axis 4 – Aesthetic Experience and Anthropology: Decolonialities, Feminisms, and Indigenous Poetics

Axis 4 aims to mediate discussions on the aesthetic experience within Iserian terms, contemplating possible dialogues with decolonial studies, feminist theories, and Indigenous epistemologies. This axis welcomes oral communications that reflect on modes of reading and how readers engage with plural textualities across different communities and sociocultural spaces, linking these reflections to Wolfgang Iser’s Theory of Aesthetic Response and/or Literary Anthropology.

 

Axis 5 – Aesthetic Experience and Methodology: Cartographies, Autoethnographies, and Mapping

Axis 5 welcomes submissions that articulate Wolfgang Iser’s Theory of Aesthetic Response and/or Literary Anthropology with innovative methodologies for engaging with literature, such as autoethnography, autobiography, diary-keeping, self-writing, cartographies, and mappings of the aesthetic experience (MAPEE). These approaches aim to explore new dimensions of the literary phenomenon and its interpretive processes, positioning the reader as the protagonist of the experience and its effects of meaning.