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The present work aims to contribute to the definition of a novel object of study: « reading emotions ». In doing so, it takes on a major theoretical and methodological challenge. Reading, as an inner experience, eludes direct observation (Darnton 1986). The emotions it triggers can therefore only be studied retrospectively, drawing on readers' impressions, memories, and interpretations. To account for the specific nature of these « reconstructed » emotions, we need to develop a tailored analytical framework at the crossroads of two fields of research that so far have evolved independently: reading studies and research on emotions.On the one hand, since the 1970s, a wide range of disciplines from both the humanities and the social sciences (literary studies, history, sociology, anthropology) and the hard sciences (cognitive science, computer science) have conducted research on reading. They first defined reading as a dynamic interaction between the text and its reader (Iser 1976, Jauss 1978), then showed that it varies according to historical (Cavallo and Chartier 1997), psychological (Picard 1986), social (Bourdieu 1979), and individual (Lahire 2004) factors and, more recently, studied its neural bases (Dehaene 2007).On the other hand, over a century of research work in anthropology, psychology, and philosophy has raised fundamental questions about the biological and social foundations of emotions (Plamper 2015), first by studying their manifestations in ordinary life and, more recently, in artistic experiences (Robinson 2005, Scherer 2005). Over the last few decades, a number of different theories have emerged, according to which emotions have an evaluative function and play a key role in human cognition (Nussbaum 2001, Tappolet 2016). Our thesis attempts to test the findings and research questions specific to these two research strands against a large corpus of testimonies from ordinary readers applying to sit on the jury awarding the Prix du Livre Inter in 2010 and 2011. By means of a computer-assisted quantitative and qualitative analysis of the corpus, we aim to explore not so much the readers' spontaneous emotions as the way in which they are intellectualised and put into words. We want to investigate how and to what extent ordinary readers draw on their own life experiences, sensory perceptions, knowledge of literature, and value systems in order to unravel their reading emotions. This could provide crucial insights into the nature and effects of these emotions, which seem to lie somewhere between ordinary emotions, which guide the choices and actions of individuals in their private, social, and professional lives, and aesthetic emotions, which relate to the evaluation and appreciation of artistic works.