Reading the deluge: A reader-response study on students’ reactions to the disaster language of Émile Zola’s “The Flood”

The reader’s horizon of expectation when reading disaster stories correlates with their experiences in real life. Reading fiction deals not only with fictional information, but it also covers the interrelationship with educational and psychological phenomena. This article argues that people’s reading of disaster stories impacts their reflective and emotional responses, as seen in their language as they respond to such a reading. Through a reader response analysis of selected sample language by 120 respondents, employing the concept of horizon of expectation, the results indicate that 1) the use of disaster language in fiction is significantly valuable for engaging reader’s with the issue of disaster, 2) storytelling helps remind readers of the disasters taking place or being potential in their hometown, 3) storytelling inspires readers to respond to disaster reflectively and emotionally. Stories can contribute to upgrading readers’ understanding of the importance of disaster fiction in disaster mitigation. This study is limited in terms of data, theory, and methods. As the results may be incomplete, future studies may seek the impact of storytelling on readers through different methods, including in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, to collect more comprehensive data. Similar studies can employ other educational theories and stories.