The Intimacy of Reading: Authors on Parasocial Relationships
Authors discuss the phenomenon of parasocial relationships, where readers form deep connections with authors they've never met.
The author Meg Mason has spoken to fellow authors about the parasocial relationships that form between readers and authors.
Meg Mason's own experience with parasocial relationships began when she was 17 and read Nancy Mitford's "The Pursuit of Love". She felt a deep connection with the author and believed that if she had met her, they would have become friends.
Parasocial relationships are defined as a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know. The term was coined in the 1950s by academics studying the connection between viewers and television characters.
A study suggested that 51% of Americans have likely been in parasocial relationships, but only 16% admit to it.
Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of "The Agatha Christie Cure", has also experienced parasocial relationships with authors. She said that she started talking to Agatha Christie and felt that she was talking back.
Dr Georgia Carroll, a sociologist, believes that parasocial relationships are common and that almost every person has had one. She notes that the key to parasocial relationships is that the relationship will never become reciprocal.
The reader-author version of parasocial relationships is unique because books hold a special place in the lives of big readers. Readers often form deep connections with authors because they feel that the author captured something that makes them feel less alone.
Book bloggers and authors agree that readers are primed for parasocial relationships because novels are about imaginary relationships between invented people. Readers have been trained to fill in the gaps and convert sentences into multi-dimensional worlds.
The lines between a character and the author who created that character can become blurred. Readers may assume that the author will be like the character they love.
Barbara Trapido, author of "Brother of the More Famous Jack", has formed many deep and extended relationships with characters. She has even believed that she was a character in a novel.
The intimacy of reading can make it easier for readers to form parasocial relationships with authors. With a living author, the sense of truly knowing them has become much keener. The creation of a parasocial relationship is also potentiated by the podcast, which brings the author's voice into the reader's home.
The author Jack Edwards of the Inklings Book Club notes that the podcast can create a sense of together-aloneness, where readers have company in their ears but feel unobserved.
The experience of being an author in this moment can be complex. While readers can be passionate and want to chat about books, authors may also feel a sense of responsibility to connect with readers and make them believe in their characters.
The idea that some made-up version of an author has provided company for a reader who feels unsurrounded is extraordinary and a privilege.
