Banned emotions : how metaphors can shape what people feel / Laura Otis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Otis, Laura, 1961- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language and emotions.

Emotions in literature.

Emotions in art.

Metaphor.

Physical Description:

xii, 186 pages ; 25 cm

Manufacture:

©2019.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2019]

Summary:

Who benefits and who loses when emotions are described in particular ways? How do metaphors such as "hold on" and "let go" affect people's emotional experiences? Banned Emotions, written by neuroscientist-turned-literary scholar Laura Otis, draws on the latest research in neuroscience and psychology to challenge popular attempts to suppress certain emotions. This interdisciplinary book breaks taboos by exploring emotions in which people are said to "indulge": self-pity, prolonged crying, chronic anger, grudge-bearing, bitterness, and spite. By focusing on metaphors for these emotions in classic novels, self-help books, and popular films, Banned Emotions exposes their cultural and religious roots. Examining works by Dante, Dickens, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Forster, and Woolf in parallel with Bridesmaids, Fatal Attraction, and Who Moved My Cheese?, Banned Emotions traces pervasive patterns in the ways emotions are represented that can make people so ashamed of their feelings, they may stifle emotions they need to work through. The book argues that emotion regulation is a political as well as a biological issue, affecting not only which emotions can be expressed, but who can express them, when, and how. -- publisher's website.

Contents:

Introduction: discouraging metaphors

The bodily and cultural roots of emotion metaphors

Wallowing in self-pity

The sound and smell of suffering

Making suffering visible

Detached and circling: metaphors for the emotions of women scorned

Conclusion: metaphors matter in emotion regulation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780190698904

019069890X

OCLC:

1054269102