Presentation of the book "Immer-son. Écouter aux pages des romans (Jane Eyre et Dracula)"

Reading is also listening. Contrary to an essentially visual conception of reading, Immer-son reveals how the soundscapes imagined by Charlotte Brontë and Bram Stoker shape our immersion in Jane Eyre and Dracula, even taking on a new life in their radio adaptations.

The Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme is organizing an evening to present the book Immer-son. Écouter aux pages des romans (Jane Eyre et Dracula), to be published by ENS Lyon editions in September 2026.

This session of "Livres en dialogue" will welcome Anaïs Martin, the book's author, in conversation with a journalist specializing in the subject.

At the end of this meeting, you will have the opportunity to ask our guests all your questions.

About the book

At a time when the adjective "immersive" seems to have become the mark of quality for art exhibitions and digital gadgets, the study of the immersive potential of sound is still neglected by the humanities. This book develops the concept of "immer-son" (immer-sound), namely how sound facilitates immersion, and argues that listening to a novel is just as important as reading it, by showing how the writings of Charlotte Brontë and Bram Stoker stimulate readers' auditory imagination and strengthen their immersion in the fictional universes of Jane Eyre and Dracula. The joint study of these novels and their French radio adaptations also highlights how their soundscapes come to life when changing media. Between textualization of sound and sonification of text, this intermedial work is therefore part of the field of sound studies, bringing to it the light of literary and radio analyses, in order to propose a new reading of Jane Eyre and Dracula, with ears wide open.

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About the author

Anaïs Martin holds an agrégation in English and a doctorate in English studies. She was also trained at the Aix-en-Provence Conservatory of Music. She currently teaches in a high school in Aubagne (13) as well as at Aix-Marseille University. Her research focuses on the soundscapes of Victorian literature and how sound fosters readers' imagination and their immersion in fictional worlds. Having collaborated with adapters and directors at France Culture, she uses her observations to study the strategies of radio adaptation of Victorian works and continues to explore how the sonification of text allows for reading novels differently.