The Architecture of Emotion: Subjective Realism as a Narrative Framework for Perceptual and Temporal Fluidity

Abstract

This essay introduces and explores Subjective Realism as a novel narrative framework that reinterprets the relation between emotion, perception, and reality in literature. Grounded in theoretical analysis and applied in literary fiction, the model addresses limitations in conventional narrative forms by demonstrating that the written word can authentically translate emotional and psychological experiences into perceptual realities. Subjective Realism draws on phenomenology, postmodern epistemology, and literary theory, rejecting a static world in favor of a fluid reality where emotions modulate external perceptions. In this way, the concept departs from both Psychological Realism and Magical Realism, offering a middle ground that places sensory and temporal fluidity at the forefront of narrative construction while remaining grounded and psychologically plausible. The outlined methodology reveals how the external world becomes mutable in response to the subjective inner life. It highlights the ability to manipulate time, space, and language to reshape perceptual experience by way of distinct strategies such as affective sensory modulation, emotional synesthesia, and temporal elasticity. Additionally, techniques like perceptual degradation, object emotion resonance, and emotional gravitation are examined to illustrate how characters' internal emotional truths prompt readers to reconsider the relationship between perception and reality within the literary context. In doing so, Subjective Realism contributes to the expansion of narrative theory, offering a comprehensive framework for understanding and embodying emotion in literature.

This paper was originally uploaded to Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13931634.

Keywords: Literary theory, Cognitive psychology, Philosophy, Linguistics, Epistemology, Narrative theory, Literary genres, Literature studies, Contemporary philosophy, Cognitive Science, Postmodern Literature, Metafiction, Literary Aesthetics, Cognition and Emotion, Temporality, Literary fiction, Literary Analysis, Embodied Cognition, Phenomenology, Narratology, Language and linguistics, Symbolism