The Desire-Paradox of Suspense

We analyse suspense as a particular mode of narrative artwork reception. Our central claim is that the psychology of narrative suspense involves different layers of desire. In turn, this account helps explain the experience of ‘urge’ and tension as well as the enjoyment that may come with suspense. We initialize our analysis by setting up an apparent paradox: suspense seems to involve an inconsistency such that one does and does not want to know the outcome of the story. We explain the two claims involved in the apparent paradox and argue that it should not be brushed aside too quickly. In discussing several attempts at solving the apparent paradox, we pick up insights that facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the way suspense interacts with narratives, its motivational role in the reading process, and its phenomenology.