Cognitive literary studies : current themes and new directions / edited by Isabel Jaén and Julien Jacques Simon.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Jaén, Isabel, 1970-

Simon, Julien Jacques, 1974-

Series:

Cognitive approaches to literature and culture series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature--History and criticism--Theory, etc.

Literature.

Literature and science.

Cognition and culture.

Physical Description:

xiii, 261 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2012.

Summary:

Over the past decade, our understanding of the cognition of literature has been transformed by scientific discoveries, such as the mirror neuron system and its role in empathy. Addressing questions such as why we care so deeply about fictional characters, what brain activities are sparked when we read literature, and how literary works and scholarship can inform the cognitive sciences, this book surveys the exciting recent developments in the field of cognitive literary studies and includes contributions from leading scholars in both the humanities and the sciences.

Beginning with an overview of the evolution of literary studies, the editors trace the recent shift from poststructuralism and its relativism to a growing interdisciplinary interest in the empirical realm of neuroscience. In illuminating essays that examine the cognitive processes at work when we experience fictional worlds, with findings on the brain's creativity sites, this collection also explores the impact of literature on self and society, ending with a discussion on the present and future of the psychology of fiction. Contributors include Literature and the Brain author Norman N. Holland, on the neuroscience of metafiction reflected in Don Quixote; clinical psychologist Aaron Mishara on the neurology of self in the hypnagogic (between waking and sleeping) state and its manifestations in Kafka's stories; and literary scholar Brad Sullivan's exploration of Romantic poetry as a didactic tool, applying David Hartley's eighteenth-century theories of sensory experience. The result is a vast mosaic of research that takes literary criticism inward, investigating .the minds that generate and celebrate some of our most iconic fictional worlds. Book jacket.

Contents:

Section I Cognitive Literary Studies Today 11

Chapter 1 An Overview of Recent Developments in Cognitive Literary Studies / Isabel Jaén Jaén, Isabel, Julien J. Simon Simon, Julien J. 13

Section II The Cognitive Sciences and Literary Theory in Dialogue 33

Chapter 2 Why Literature Is Necessary, and Not Just Nice / Richard J. Gerrig Gerrig, Richard J. 35

Chapter 3 Theory of Mind in Reconciling the Split Object of Narrative Comprehension / Joseph A. Murphy Murphy, Joseph A. 53

Section III Neurological Approaches to Literature 71

Chapter 4 Don Quixote and the Neuroscience of Metafiction / Norman N. Holland Holland, Norman N. 73

Chapter 5 The Mourning Brain: Attachment, Anticipation, and Hamlet's Unmanly Grief / Patrick Colm Hogan Hogan, Patrick Colm 89

Chapter 6 The Literary Neuroscience of Kafka's Hypnagogic Hallucinations: How Literature Informs the Neuroscientific Study of Self and Its Disorders / Aaron L. Mishara Mishara, Aaron L. 105

Section IV Language, Literature, and Mind Processes 125

Chapter 7 Blending and Beyond: Form and Feeling in Poetic Iconicity / Margaret H. Freeman Freeman, Margaret H. 127

Chapter 8 "A sermon in the midst of a smutty tale": Blending in Genres of Speech, Writing, and Literature / Michael Striding Striding, Michael 145

Chapter 9 Counting in Metrical Verse / Nigel Fabb Fabb, Nigel, Morris Halle Halle, Morris 163

Chapter 10 Fictive Motion and Perspectival Construal in the Lyric / Claiborne Rice Rice, Claiborne 183

Section V Literature and Human Development 199

Chapter 11 Education by Poetry: Hardens Theory of Mind as a Context for Understanding Early Romantic Poetic Strategies / Brad Sullivan Sullivan, Brad 201

Chapter 12 Leafy Houses and Acorn Kisses: J. M. Barrie's Neverland Playground / Glenda Sacks Sacks, Glenda 219.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780292735583

0292735588

9780292735590

0292735596

OCLC:

755640828