Why We Read Fiction offers a lucid overview of the most exciting area of research in contemporary cognitive psychology known as "Theory of Mind" and discusses its implications for literary studies. It covers a broad range of fictional narratives,...
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Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt / Zentrale
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Why We Read Fiction offers a lucid overview of the most exciting area of research in contemporary cognitive psychology known as "Theory of Mind" and discusses its implications for literary studies. It covers a broad range of fictional narratives, from Richardson s Clarissa, Dostoyevski's Crime and Punishment, and Austen s Pride and Prejudice to Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, Nabokov's Lolita, and Hammett s The Maltese Falcon. Zunshine's surprising new interpretations of well-known literary texts and popular cultural representations constantly prod her readers to rethink their own interest in fictional narrative. Written for a general audience, this study provides a jargon-free introduction to the rapidly growing interdisciplinary field known as cognitive approaches to literature and culture
Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-192) and index
pt. 1. Attributing minds. Why did Peter Walsh tremble? -- What is mind-reading (also known as theory of mind)? -- Theory of mind, autism, and fiction : four caveats -- "Effortless" mind-reading -- Why do we read fiction? -- The novel as a cognitive experiment -- Can cognitive science tell us why we are afraid of Mrs. Dalloway? -- The relationship between a "cognitive" analysis of Mrs. Dalloway and the larger field of literary studies -- Woolf, Pinker, and the project of interdisciplinarity -- pt. 2. Tracking minds. Whose thought is it, anyway? -- Metarepresentational ability and schizophrenia -- Everyday failures of source-monitoring -- Monitoring fictional states of mind -- "Fictional" and "history" -- Tracking minds in Beowulf -- Don Quixote and his progeny -- Source-monitoring, ToM, and the figure of the unreliable narrator -- Source-monitoring and the implied author -- Richardson's Clarissa : the progress of the elated bridegroom -- Nabokov's Lolita : the deadly demon meets and destroys the tenderhearted boy -- pt. 3. Concealing minds. ToM and the detective novel : what does it take to suspect everybody? -- Why is reading a detective story a lot like lifting weights at the gym? -- Metarepresentationality and some recurrent patterns of the detective story -- A cognitive evolutionary perspective : always historicize! -- Conclusion : why do we read (and write) fiction? Authors meet their readers -- Is this why we read fiction? surely, there is more to it!
