The Mind and its Stories: Narrative Universals and Human Emotion (Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction) [Hardcover]

Patrick Colm Hogan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 052182527X | ISBN-13: 978-0521825276 | Publication Date: September 29, 2003

Patrick Colm Hogan argues that, to a remarkable degree, the stories people admire in different cultures follow a limited number of patterns determined by cross-culturally constant ideas about emotion. Hogan draws on world literature; experimental research treating emotion and emotion concepts; and methodological principles from contemporary linguistics and philosophy of science. He concludes with a discussion of the relationship between the narrative, emotion concepts, and the biological and social components of emotion.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This marvelous book reconnects the study of literature to the themes that have made it eternally fascinating, and connects it for the first time to the sciences of mind and brain. It is a landmark in modern intellectual life, heralding an exciting new integration of the sciences and humanities." Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Pscychology, Harvard University, and author of The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, and The Language Instinct.

"With painstaking scholarship and subtle theorizing, Patrick Colm Hogan marshals a compelling case for the trans-cultural reach of narrative forms. He shows in rich detail how plot structures recurring across world literature express emotional universals. The Mind and Its Stories is stimulating on several levels. It contributes a nuanced conception of universals to the philosophical debate. It offers cognitive scientists a remarkable occasion for rethinking the relation of emotion to culture and to human nature. And by providng enormously wide-ranging evidence for narrative universals, Hogan may touch off nothing short of a revolution in literary studies." David Bordwell, Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"The Mind and its Stories is in the forefront of the scientific study of literatre as a product of the capacities of the human mind. Patrick Colm Hogan shows how human cognitive processes of story lie at the center of both cognitive science and the study of verbal art." Mark Turner, Distinguished University Professor, The University of Maryland and Associate Director, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences

Book Description

This is the first empirically and cognitively based isolation and discussion of narrative universals. Hogan argues that, to a remarkable degree, the stories people admire in different cultures follow a limited number of patterns and that these patterns are determined by cross-culturally constant ideas about emotion. In formulating his argument, Hogan draws on his extensive reading in world literature, experimental research treating emotion and emotion concepts, and methodological principles from the contemporary linguistics and the philosophy of science. He concludes with a discussion of the relations among narrative, emotion concepts, and the biological and social components of emotion.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (September 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052182527X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521825276
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,106,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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