Desire, motivation, engagement and interest

Four perspectives on the driving forces of reading

Abstract

Human motivation and driving forces in relation to acting and interacting are described and interpreted in many ways and within different research traditions. This applies not the least in relation to reading and literature, as motivation to read has both been examined in relation to the act of reading itself, the skill and knowledge building associated with reading, and the themes and worlds that reading gives access to. The purpose of this article is to investigate the driving forces behind reading based on a literature review of theoretical and empirical studies from different research traditions, which form the basis for four complementary perspectives on the driving forces as a coherent problem complex. The article is theoretical, but includes empirical evidence from two major projects that are used to study the relationship between the four perspectives: a) the internal driving forces and the desire perspective; b) the rational motives and justification perspective; c) the literary engagement and the action perspective); d) the literary interest and the object perspective. Based on a phenomenological concept of the intentionality of reading, the perspectives are integrated into a four-field model, which is built on differences between internal and external factors and influences along the vertical axis, and between activity-oriented reading pleasure and object-oriented literary pleasure along the horizontal. The model sets the stage for a final discussion of how to describe the relationship between the different perspectives – both didactically and research-wise.