Learning a foreign language provides an entry point into the lives of cultural ‘others’, as does the reading of realistic fiction. Responding to the challenges of both tasks requires concerted cognitive effort, but also creativity. First, individuals need to override the automatic tendency to prioritise their own point of view and then, at least temporarily, imagine themselves into another’s position. When reading fiction, focalisation determines whose views the readers can access, but point of view is implicit in all language. L2 learners need to recognise and imitate the world view implicit in the target language. In this article, we present both skills – empathy and mimicry – as acts of creative cognition that develop from responding to literature. This article examines works of fiction written by 15–16-year-old Swedish learners of English in response to a short story by Salman Rushdie. The story contains culturally specific information, and the ending encourages readers to recognise their own assumptions alongside the focalising character. The study draws on cognitive narratology to examine the Swedish learners’ fiction in terms of empathy and mimicry. The aims of the analyses are to determine how the short story and task design promote creative cognition, and to identify where the learners reveal a lack of understanding or an over-reliance on stereotypes.

学习一门外语提供了一个进入文化“他人”生活的切入点，阅读现实小说也是如此。应对这两项任务的挑战需要协调一致的认知努力，但也需要创造力。首先，个人需要克服优先考虑自己观点的自动倾向，然后至少暂时想象自己进入另一个位置。阅读小说时，焦点决定了读者可以访问谁的观点，但观点隐含在所有语言中。L2学习者需要识别和模仿目标语言中隐含的世界观。在本文中，我们将两种技能——同理心和模仿——作为对文学的回应而发展起来的创造性认知行为。本文考察了 15 至 16 岁瑞典英语学习者针对萨尔曼·拉什迪 (Salman Rushdie) 的短篇小说所写的小说作品。故事包含特定文化的信息，结尾鼓励读者认识到他们自己的假设以及焦点人物。该研究利用认知叙事学从同理心和模仿的角度审视瑞典学习者的小说。分析的目的是确定短篇故事和任务设计如何促进创造性认知，并确定学习者在哪些方面表现出缺乏理解或过度依赖刻板印象。该研究利用认知叙事学从同理心和模仿的角度审视瑞典学习者的小说。分析的目的是确定短篇故事和任务设计如何促进创造性认知，并确定学习者在哪些方面表现出缺乏理解或过度依赖刻板印象。该研究利用认知叙事学从同理心和模仿的角度审视瑞典学习者的小说。分析的目的是确定短篇故事和任务设计如何促进创造性认知，并确定学习者在哪些方面表现出缺乏理解或过度依赖刻板印象。