Sympathy time: adam smith, george eliot, and the realist novel
TL;DR: Omniscient narration, shrinking the distance between ourselves and oth ers, encourages sympathy: the assumption is that by knowing more?of what others know or think along with what they don't, we draw closer and more inclined to sympathize with their conditions.
Abstract: Talk about novel-reading and sympathy and you are likely to spend some of that time talking about omniscience. If your subject is the nineteenth-century realist novel, you will probably have something to say about the relationship between ethi cal feeling and free indirect discourse which suggests that peering into the secret hearts and minds of characters enables our sympathy for them, and thus that "sym pathy" names that special ability to cultivate our identification with others through feeling what they feel and knowing what they know, or what they are thinking about. In this vein omniscient narration, shrinking the distance between ourselves and oth ers, encourages sympathy: the assumption is that by knowing more?of what others know or think along with what they don't?we draw closer and more inclined to sympathize with their conditions. The link between sympathy and knowledge is all but guaranteed in this formulation, as indeed it regularly goes without saying that fa cilitating our sympathetic identification with characters is what many English real ists' experiments in omniscience were designed to do. Sympathy in such novels, so the story goes, results from both seeing and knowing: the unique seeing into and knowledge of interiors afforded by the nineteenth-century novel's most celebrated
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09 Aug 2018TL;DR: For instance, the authors studied how poetry was imagined to promote involuntary bodily responses in both authors and readers, and how these responses enlist the body as a medium that does not produce poetry but rather reproduces it.
Abstract: From the Romantic fascination with hallucinatory poetics to the turn-of-the-century mania for automatic writing, poetry in nineteenth-century Britain appears at crucial times to be oddly involuntary, out of the control of its producers and receivers alike. This elegant study addresses the question of how people understood those forms of written creativity that seem to occur independently of the writer's will. Through the study of the century's media revolutions, evolving theories of physiology, and close readings of the works of nineteenth-century poets including Wordsworth, Coleridge and Tennyson, Ashley Miller articulates how poetry was imagined to promote involuntary bodily responses in both authors and readers, and how these responses enlist the body as a medium that does not produce poetry but rather reproduces it. This is a poetics that draws attention to, rather than effaces, the mediacy of the body in the processes of composition and reception.
10 citations
TL;DR: The authors describe their project as playing on the beachfront of theatre and performance studies, watching how the waves of research from the cognitive sciences come in and alter the shoreline, rather than advancing an argument for a kind of work.
Abstract: It is true that I am a proselytizer for the work being done at the intersection of the cognitive sciences and the humanities; I can be found on college campuses shaking a copy of The Way We Think (2002) or How the Body Shapes the Mind (2006) and spreading the good word about the importance of deploying research from across the cognitive sciences to previously held beliefs about language and bodies onstage. My aims are not small and my opinions are not meek. There are questions about the great impact that language and performance has on an audience to which I still do not have the answer and yet find more exciting given research in the cognitive sciences. This essay, however, will not be a manifesto, nor will it present clear answers or bold claims. Working in an intersection requires a degree of caution. I know better than to let that metaphor go unquestioned: interdisciplinary inquiry need not be work and it need not be perilous. If, instead, I describe my project here as playing on the beachfront of theatre and performance studies, watching how the waves of research from the cognitive sciences come in and alter the shoreline, I may open up the field of play, rather than advancing an argument for a kind of work. This is not to suggest that the scholarship is lazy and noncommittal, rather that what I seek to do here is imagine the kinds of sandcastles that could be made on this beach here and now. What if, for example, research on emotions could show us how to rethink our moat building? What if the science of empathy changed how we understood the properties of sand? Research on emotions and empathy, the stock and trade of theatre, poses exciting new questions for the theory and practice of theatre and will shape, dissolve, and reconstitute how we understand what is staged. The Player blows Hamlet’s mind because he can cry and feel emotions for someone he doesn’t know as someone he isn’t:
9 citations
01 Dec 2010
8 citations
Dissertation•
05 Nov 2015
7 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that much of the continuing appeal of the ticking time-bomb scenario has to do with the way it exploits deeply held beliefs regarding the relation between pain, sympathy, and the definition of the human that originated in the nineteenth century.
Abstract: This essay argues that much of the continuing appeal of the ticking time-bomb scenario has to do with the way it exploits deeply held beliefs regarding the relation between pain, sympathy, and the definition of the human that originated in the nineteenth century. These beliefs include the notion that sympathy precludes the infliction of pain; that sympathy is constitutive of humanity; and that in relation to certain kinds of subjects, pain does, in fact, elicit truth.
7 citations
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01 Jan 1970
TL;DR: Hume's early years and education is described in a treatise of human nature as discussed by the authors. But it is not a complete account of the early years of his life and education.
Abstract: PART 1: INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL How to Use this Book List of Abbreviations Editor's Introduction Hume's Early years and Education A Treatise of Human Nature Book 1: Of the Understanding Book 1 part 1: The Elements of the Mental World Book 1 Part 2: The Ideas of Space and Time Book 1 Part 3: Knowledge, Probability, Belief, and Causation Book 1 Part 4: Forms of Scepticism Book 2: Of the passions Book 2 Part 1: The Indirect Passions of Pride and Humility Book 2 Part 2: The Indirect Passions of Love and Hatred Book 2 part 3: The Direct Passions and the Will Book 3: Of Morals Book 3 Part 1: The Source of Moral Distinctions Book 3 Part 2: The Artificial Virtues Book 3 Part 3: Natural Virtues and Natural Abilities The Abstract and the Early Reception of the Treatise Supplementary Reading A Note on the Texts of this Edition PART 2: THE TEXT Advertisement Introduction Book 1: Of the Understanding Part 1: Of ideas, their origin, composition, connexion, abstraction, etc Sect 1: Of the origin of our ideas Sect 2: Division of the subject Sect 3: Of the ideas of the memory and imagination Sect 4: Of the connexion of association of ideas Sect 5 Of relations Sect 6 Of modes and substances Sect 7: Of abstract ideas Part 2: Of ideas of space and time Sect 1: Of the infinite divisibility of our ideas of space and time Sect 2: Of the infinite divisibility of space and time Sect 3 Of the other qualities of our ideas of space and time Sect 4 Objections answered Sect 5: The same subject continued Sect 6: Of the idea of existence and of external existence Part 3: of knowledge and probability Sect 1: Of knowledge Sect 2 Of probability and of the idea of cause and effect Sect 3: Why a cause is always necessary Sect 4: Of the component parts of our reasonings concerning cause and effect Sect 5: Of the impressions of the senses and memory Section 6: Of the inference from the impression to the idea Sect 7: Of the nature of the idea or belief Sect 8: Of the causes of belief Sect 9: Of the effects of other relations and other habits Sect 10 Of the influence of belief Sect 11: Of the probability of chances Sect 12: Of the probability of causes Sect 13: Of unphilosophical probability Sect 14: Of the idea of necessary connexion Sect 15: Rules by which to judge of causes and effects Sect 16: Of the reason of animals Part 4: Of the sceptical and other systems of philosophy Sect 1: Of scepticism with regard to reason Sect 2: Of scepticism with regard to the senses Sect 3 Of the ancient philosophy Sect 4 Of the modern philosophy Sect 5: Of the immateriality of the soul Sect 6: Of personal identity Sect 7: Conclusion of this book Book 2: Of the Passions Part 1: Of pride and humility Sect 1: Division of the subject Sect 2: Of pride and humility their objects and causes Sect 3: Whence these objects and causes are derived Sect 4: Of the relations of impressions and ideas Sect 5: Of the influence of these relations on pride and humility Sect 6: Limitations of this system Sect 7: Of vice and virtue Sect 8: Of beauty and deformity Sect 9: Of external advantages and disadvantages Sect 10: Of property and riches Sect 11: Of the love of fame Sect 12: Of the pride and humility of animals Part 2: Of love and hatred Sect 1: Of the objects and causes of love and hatred Sect 2: Experiments to confirm this system Sect 3: Difficulties solved Sect 4: Of the love of relations Sect 5: Of our esteem for the rich and powerful Sect 6: Of benevolence and anger Sect 7: Of compassion Sect 8: Of malice and envy Sect 9: Of the mixture of benevolence and anger with compassion and malice Sect 10 Of respect and contempt Sect 11: Of the amorous passion, or love betwixt the sexes Sect 12: Of the love and hatred of animals Part 3: Of the will and direct passions Sect 1: Of liberty and necessity Sect 2: The same subject continued Sect 3: Of the influencing motives of the will Sect 4: Of the causes of the violent passions Sect 5: Of the effects of custom Sect Of the influence of the imagination on passions Sect 7: Of contiguity and distance in space and time Sect 8: The same subject continued Sect 9: Of the direct passions Sect 10: Of curiosity, or the love of truth Book 3: Of Morals Advertisement Part 1: Of virtue and vice in general Sect 1: Moral distinctions not derived from reason Sect 2: Moral distinctions derived from a moral sense Part 2: Of justice and injustice Sect 1: Justice, whether a natural or artificial virtue? Sect 2: Of the origin of justice and property Sect 3: Of the rules, which determine property Sect 4: Of the transference of property by consent Sect 5: Of the obligation of promises Sect 6: Some farther reflections concerning justice and injustice Sect 7: Of the origin of government Sect 8: Of the source of allegiance Sect 9: Of the measures of allegiance Sect 10: Of the objects of allegiance Sect 11: Of the laws of nations Sect 12: Of chastity and modesty Part 3: Of the other virtues and vices Sect 1: Of the origin of the natural virtues and vices Sect 2: Of greatness of mind Sect 3 Of goodness and benevolence Sect 4: Of natural abilities Sect 5: Some farther reflections concerning the natural virtues Sect 6: Conclusion of this book Appendix An Abstract of A Treatise of Human Nature PART 3 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL Editors' Annotations Annotations to the Treatise Annotations to the Abstract Glossary References Index
10,342 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1941
TL;DR: The A Glossary of Literary Terms, Seventh Edition as discussed by the authors defines and discusses terms, critical theories, and points of view that are commonly applied to the classification, analysis, interpretation, and history of works of literature.
Abstract: The standard for over thirty years, A Glossary of Literary Terms, Seventh Edition, defines and discusses terms, critical theories, and points of view that are commonly applied to the classification, analysis, interpretation, and history of works of literature. Entries are arranged alphabetically. The glossary is oriented toward undergraduate students of English, American, and other literatures. Over the decades, the book has proved to be the clearest and most useful literary reference ever. Features: * All entries revised * References and supplementary readings updated * 20 new entries, including author and authorship, black arts movement, theories of metaphor, queer theory, postcolonial studies, and Harlem Renaissance * New arrangement of all entries--both Literary Terms and Modern Theories--into one alphabetical list to reflect the acceptance of modern literary and critical terminology into general usage * New index of authors and titles * Revised index of terms emphasised by adding colour to the outside margin
1,855 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: Keen as mentioned in this paper argues that readers' perception of a text's fictiveness increases the likelihood of readers' empathy, by releasing readers from their guarded responses to the demands of real others.
Abstract: Does reading novels evoking empathy with fictional characters really cultivate our sympathetic imagination and lead to altruistic actions on behalf of real others? Empathy and the Novel presents a comprehensive account of the relationships among novel reading, empathy, and altruism. Though readers' and authors' empathy certainly contribute to the emotional resonance of fiction and its success in the marketplace, Keen finds the case for altruistic consequences of novel reading inconclusive (and exaggerated by defenders of literary reading). She offers instead a detailed theory of narrative empathy, with proposals about its deployment by novelists and its results in readers. Empathy and the Novel engages with neuroscience and contemporary psychological research on empathy, bringing affect to the center of cognitive literary studies' scrutiny of narrative fiction. Drawing on narrative theory, literary history, philosophy, and contemporary scholarship in discourse processing, Keen brings together resources and challenges for the literary study of empathy and the psychological study of fiction reading. Empathy robustly enters into affective responses to fiction, but its proper role in shaping the behavior of emotional readers has been debated for three centuries. Keen surveys these debates and offers a series of hypotheses about literary empathy, including narrative techniques inviting empathetic response. She argues that above all readers' perception of a text's fictiveness increases the likelihood of readers' empathy, by releasing readers from their guarded responses to the demands of real others. She confirms the centrality of narrative empathy as a strategy, as well as a subject, of contemporary novelists. Despite the disrepute of putative human universals, novelists from around the world endorse the notion of shared human emotions when they overtly call upon their readers' empathy. Consequently, Keen suggests, if narrative empathy is to be better understood, then women's reading and popular fiction must be accorded the respect of experimental inquiry.
674 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1978
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the entire spectrum of techniques for portraying the mental lives of fictional characters in both the stream-of-consciousness novel and other fiction, and each chapter deals with one main technique, illustrated from a wide range of nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction by writers including Stendhal, Dostoevsky, James, Mann, Kafka, Joyce, Proust, Woolf, and Sarraute.
Abstract: This book investigates the entire spectrum of techniques for portraying the mental lives of fictional characters in both the stream-of-consciousness novel and other fiction. Each chapter deals with one main technique, illustrated from a wide range of nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction by writers including Stendhal, Dostoevsky, James, Mann, Kafka, Joyce, Proust, Woolf, and Sarraute.
639 citations