The Experientiality of Narrative: An Enactivist Approach
31 Jan 2014-Vol. 43
TL;DR: The authors studied the dynamics underlying readers' responses to narrative through close readings of literary texts and theoretical discussion in ways that shed light on the deep connection between narrative, literary fiction, and human experience.
Abstract: How do readers experience literary narrative? Drawing on narrative theory, cognitive science, and the philosophy of mind, this book offers a principled account of the dynamics underlying readers' responses to narrative Through its interdisciplinary approach, this study combines close readings of literary texts and theoretical discussion in ways that shed light on the deep connection between narrative, literary fiction, and human experience
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25 Sep 2018
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TL;DR: This paper examined how fictional texts may convey the difference between modern-day cognition and the psychological life of our hominid ancestors, by investigating the narrative strategies employed by London (first-person narration, embedded narrative) and Golding (internal focalization).
Abstract: Scholars working in different areas of literary studies have recently developed an interest in how literature deals with the 'deep', evolutionary history of humankind. Cross-fertilizing this line of enquiry with accounts of consciousness representation in cognitive narrative theory, my essay explores literary figurations of prehistoric mentalities and their interpretive ramifications. Through two case studies, Jack London's Before Adam (1906) and William Golding's The Inheritors (1955), I examine how fictional texts may convey the difference between modern-day cognition and the psychological life of our hominid ancestors. By investigating the narrative strategies employed by London (first-person narration, embedded narrative) and Golding (internal focalization), I advance hypotheses about how such devices may guide readers' engagements with the two novellas' protagonists and shape their interpretations. I argue that, while London renders the cognitive specificity of proto-humans in purely negative terms - that is, by subtracting capacities that we tend to associate with Homo sapiens - Golding stages a complex trade-off between archaic and modern mentalities. In different ways, both London's and Golding's novellas can prompt reflection on the cognitive evolution of the Homo genus, potentially involving readers in the challenges of thinking about evolutionary phenomena.
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01 Jan 2018
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TL;DR: This article used TWT to represent contrasting versions of reality: the first poem is concerned with the simultaneous presence and absence of the narrator, whilst the second deals with the present versus the past.
Abstract: argument has broad-ranging implications, as emotionally familiar entry points are needed to understand and empathize with culturally unfamiliar textual entities. Combining TWT and Stockwell’s (2009) model of literary resonance, McLoughlin schematizes the new mobilities paradigms in a detailed analysis of two Eavan Boland poems (Chapter 15). The chapter demonstrates how TWT can be used to represent contrasting versions of reality: the first poem is concerned with the simultaneous presence and absence of the narrator, whilst the second deals with the present versus the past. The addition of literary resonance to McLoughlin’s methodology illustrates how the relationships between contrasting worlds are managed through shifts in time or perspective. Poems that re-experience the past from the present perspective can be better understood through this approach. Gavins closes the collection in Chapter 16 by applying TWT to ‘Hide and Seek’ by Jacob Polley, skilfully demonstrating what TWT does best. She shows how repetitive negation and an unidentified first-person narrator create unease in the reader. Emphasizing the recurring tension between presence, absence and loss in the poem, demonstrated by negated text-worlds and negative shading, Gavins concludes that ‘Hide and Seek’ is an apophatic poem. Gavins’s exposition is an enjoyable read, not least for its rigorous analysis of the text’s regularities and dissonances, and the effect it had on her as a reader. In short, this book was a pleasure to read. Though some chapters were more personally appealing than others, I have no doubt that this volume will interest many, not least because it includes contributions from a range of established and up-and-coming scholars in stylistics. Though the inclusion of a concluding chapter drawing together the theoretical contributions of the volume would have been a useful means of synthesizing the range of reforms and suggestions posited by contributors, World Building makes a major contribution to the field of cognitive stylistics. By showcasing the adaptability of worldsbased theoretical models, the contributors demonstrate the need for constant reform in response to innovative research needs in stylistics.
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Cites methods from "The Experientiality of Narrative: A..."
...While not the first application of enactive cognition to narrative (Caracciolo, 2014), it builds on this earlier work to provide both a comprehensive account of the challenges raised by the enactive approach to cognition and a detailed framework for its emergent application to the study of…...
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...While not the first application of enactive cognition to narrative (Caracciolo, 2014), it builds on this earlier work to provide both a comprehensive account of the challenges raised by the enactive approach to cognition and a detailed framework for its emergent application to the study of narrative....
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