The Work of Fiction: Cognition, Culture, and Complexity

by Alan Richardson (Editor), Ellen Spolsky (Editor)

The essays gathered here demonstrate and justify the excitement and promise of cognitive historicism, providing a lively introduction to this new and quickly growing area of literary studies. Written by eight leading critics whose work has done much to establish the new field, they display the significant results of a largely unprecedented combination of cultural and cognitive analysis. The authors explore both narrative and dramatic genres, uncovering the tensions among presumably universal cognitive processes, and the local contexts within which complex literary texts are produced. Alan Richardson's opening essay evaluates current approaches to the study of literature and cognition, locating them on the map of recent literary studies, indicating their most compelling developments to date, and suggesting the most promising future directions. The seven essays that follow provide innovative readings of topics ranging from Shakespeare (Othello, Macbeth, Cymbeline, The Rape of Lucrece) through Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, to contemporary authors Ian McEwan and Gilbert Sorrentino. They underscore some of the limitations of new historicist and post-structuralist approaches to literary cultural studies while affirming the value of supplementing rather than supplanting them with insights and methods drawn from cognitive and evolutionary theory. Together, they demonstrate the analytical power of considering these texts in the context of recent studies of cultural universals, 'theory of mind,' cognitive categorization and genre, and neural-materialist theories of language and consciousness. This groundbreaking collection holds appeal for a broad audience, including students and teachers of literary theory, literary history, cultural studies, and literature and science studies.

Hardcover

First published August 13, 2004

About the author

Alan Richardson grew up in Washington State, backpacking and mountain climbing in the North Cascade and Olympic ranges from a young age. He has taught English and American literature at Boston College for over thirty years and is author or editor of a number of scholarly books. A Zen Buddhist since the age of 18, he serves as a Dharma Holder in the Boundless Way Zen community and Guiding Teacher for the Sky Flower Zen sangha.. Based in Eastern Massachusetts, he frequently hikes and backpacks in the Taconics, the Berkshires, the Green Mountains, the White Mountains, and the Mahoosucs. His most recent book is Breakfast With Salamanders: Seasons on the Appalachian Trail.


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