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The article investigates the structure of romance and grief narrative included in Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh,” on the basis of Patrick C. Hogan’s th eory of literary universals and his work on aff ective narratology. Following Hogan, I argue that emotions are deeply embedded in stories and that stories are typically designed so as to manipulate the aff ective responses of their readers. I will focus on the way the story depicts prototypical stages of romance and grief and where it deviates from universal narratives involving concerning grief, separation, attachment, and romantic love, arguing that the aff ective and aesthetic potential of the story lies precisely in where it departs from these prototypical narratives. At the same time, I shall speculate on how discourse organization manipulates the formation of aff ective schemata and empathic alignment in readers. In what follows I set out to explore the structure of romance and grief narrative included in Bobbie Ann Mason’s celebrated short story, “Shiloh,” using Patrick C. Hogan’s theory of narrative universals and its off shoot project: aff ective narratology. Following Hogan, I assume that there is a strong interconnectedness between emotions and stories and that, on the one hand, emotional reactions are deeply embedded in narrative structures, and on the other hand, stories are typically designed and structured so as to manipulate the aff ective responses of their readers. Specifi cally, I shall analyse the story tracing both the way it approaches and depicts standard stages of grief and where it deviates from universal stories and motifs concerning grief, separation, attachment and romantic love and I argue that the aff ective and aesthetic potential of the story lies precisely in where it departs from these prototypical narratives. At the same time, I shall speculate on how discourse organization manipulates the formation of aff ective schemata in readers. The theory of aesthetic suggestiveness that sees a literary work as a network of associatively linked elements unifi ed along the lines of an emotionally salient theme (in this case: grief over a dead child and marriage disintegration),

Romantic Love and Grief in Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh”: A Sketch of a Cognitive Narratological Perspective