Willie van Peer

Willie van Peer
Born
Joannes van Peer

1947
Sint-Lenaarts, Belgium
Occupation(s)Professor emeritus in the Faculty of Languages and Literature at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany
SpouseMimi Debruyn
Academic background
Alma materLancaster University
ThesisStylistics and Psychology. Investigations of Foregrounding (1980) re-edited by Routledge in 2020.
Doctoral advisorGeoffrey Leech and Michael Short
Academic work
DisciplineLiterary theory
Sub-disciplineEmpirical study of literature
InstitutionsLudwig Maximilian University of Munich
Notable worksStylistics and Psychology: Investigations of Foregrounding
Websitehttps://www.daf.uni-muenchen.de/personen/emeriti/van_peer/index.html

Willie van Peer is professor emeritus in the Faculty of Languages and Literature at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany.[1] He is a linguist, literary scholar, and one of the founders of the empirical study of literature. Van Peer has published extensively in his main areas of research: foregrounding,[2][3][4][5][6] narratology,[7] literary evaluation,[8][9][10][11] literary theory,[12] emotion in literature [13][14] and intimate relations in literature.[15][16] Van Peer was Vice President of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA, 1996–1998), Chair of the Poetics and Linguistics Association (PALA, 2000–2003) and President of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature (IGEL, 2004–2006). He was (co-)editor of the series Linguistic Approaches to Literature (2000–2010) and founding editor of Scientific Study of Literature (2011). Directions in Empirical Literary Studies[17] was published in his honour in 2008.

Van Peer's PhD and the book Stylistics and Psychology. Investigations of Foregrounding (1986) was the first attempt to empirically validate the concept of foregrounding, originally developed by the Russian Formalists and Prague Structuralists.

Van Peer has been Visiting Scholar in the Departments of Comparative Literature at Stanford and at Princeton University, and in the Department of (Cognitive) Psychology at the University of Memphis. He is also a Fellow of Clare Hall of Cambridge University and an Honorary Professor of Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University.

  1. ^ "Prof. Willie van Peer, Ph. D." Prof. Willie van Peer, Ph. D. Ludwig Maximilians Universität München. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  2. ^ van Peer, Willie (2007). "Foregrounding: Past, Present, Future". Stylistics: 1–22. doi:10.1163/9789401205313_002. ISBN 9789401205313. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  3. ^ van Peer, Willie; Nousi, Aikaterini (2007), "What Reading Does to Readers: Stereotypes, Foregrounding and Language Learning", Literature and Stylistics for Language Learners, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 181–193, doi:10.1057/9780230624856_14, ISBN 978-1-349-54183-6, retrieved 2021-07-24
  4. ^ van Peer, Willie (January 1993). "Typographic foregrounding". Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics. 2 (1): 49–61. doi:10.1177/096394709300200104. ISSN 0963-9470. S2CID 220725561.
  5. ^ Chesnokova, Anna; Peer, Willie van (2016). "Anyone came to live here some time ago: A cognitive semiotics approach to deviation as a foregrounding device". Versus (1/2016): 5–22. doi:10.14649/84875. ISSN 0393-8255.
  6. ^ Chesnokova, Anna and Willie van Peer. "So Sincerely, So Tenderly. Foregrounding in Pushkin's "I Loved You"". Znaki Czy Nie Znaki?. 3: 81–93.
  7. ^ van Peer, Willie; Maat, Henk Pander (2001-08-01). "Narrative perspective and the interpretation of characters' motives". Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics. 10 (3): 229–241. doi:10.1177/0973-9470-20010803-04. ISSN 0963-9470. S2CID 143092444.
  8. ^ van Peer, Willie (2008), "Introduction", The Quality of Literature, Linguistic Approaches to Literature, vol. 4, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 1–14, doi:10.1075/lal.4.01pee, ISBN 978-90-272-3336-3, retrieved 2021-07-24
  9. ^ van Peer, Willie (2008), "1. Canon formation: Ideology or aesthetic quality?", The Quality of Literature, Linguistic Approaches to Literature, vol. 4, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 17–29, doi:10.1075/lal.4.03pee, ISBN 978-90-272-3336-3, retrieved 2021-07-24
  10. ^ van Peer, Willie (1997). "Multilated Signs: Notes toward a Literary Paleography". Poetics Today. 18 (1): 33–57. doi:10.2307/1773232. ISSN 0333-5372. JSTOR 1773232.
  11. ^ Peer, Willie van; Chesnokova, Anna (2018-06-29). "Reading and Rereading: Insights into Literary Evaluation". Advanced Education. 5: 39–46. doi:10.20535/2410-8286.125730. ISSN 2410-8286. S2CID 59157087.
  12. ^ "Willie van Peer, Chesnokova A. V. Literariness in Readers' Experience. Further Developments in Empirical Research and Theory". scienceandeducation.pdpu.edu.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  13. ^ Ludwig Maximilian University; van Peer, Willie; Chesnokova, Anna; Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University; Springer, Matthias; Ludwig Maximilian University (January 2017). "Distressful Empathy in Reading Literature: The Case for Terror Management Theory?". Science and Education. 12 (1): 33–41. doi:10.24195/2414-4665-2017-1-6.
  14. ^ van Peer, Willie (31 March 2019). "What Literature Does to Our Emotions, and How Do We Know?". Synopsis. 25 (1): 1–10. doi:10.28925/2311-259x.2019.1.1.
  15. ^ van Peer, Willie; Chesnokova, Anna (2021), Mayer, Claude-Hélène; Vanderheiden, Elisabeth (eds.), ""How Do You Spell Love?"—"You Don't Spell It. You Feel It."", International Handbook of Love: Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Perspectives, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 789–806, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-45996-3_42, ISBN 978-3-030-45996-3, S2CID 235862737, retrieved 2023-03-20
  16. ^ Chesnokova, Anna; van Peer, Willie (2021), Mayer, Claude-Hélène; Vanderheiden, Elisabeth (eds.), ""There Are as Many Kinds of Love as There Are Hearts": Age-Gap Relationships in Literature and Cultural Attitudes", International Handbook of Love: Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Perspectives, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 807–826, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-45996-3_43, ISBN 978-3-030-45996-3, S2CID 235839021, retrieved 2023-03-20
  17. ^ Zyngier, Sonia|Bortolussi (15 May 2008). Directions in Empirical Literary Studies. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 978-90-272-9062-5.