Why Do We Care about Literary Characters? [Hardcover]

Blakey Vermeule (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2009

Blakey Vermeule wonders how readers become involved in the lives of fictional characters, people they know do not exist.

Vermeule examines the ways in which readers’ experiences of literature are affected by the emotional attachments they form to fictional characters and how those experiences then influence their social relationships in real life. She focuses on a range of topics, from intimate articulations of sexual desire, gender identity, ambition, and rivalry to larger issues brought on by rapid historical and economic change. Vermeule discusses the phenomenon of emotional attachment to literary characters primarily in terms of 18th-century British fiction but also considers the postmodern work of Thomas Mann, J. M. Coetzee, Ian McEwan, and Chinua Achebe.

From the perspective of cognitive science, Vermeule finds that caring about literary characters is not all that different from caring about other people, especially strangers. The tools used by literary authors to sharpen and focus reader interest tap into evolved neural mechanisms that trigger a caring response.

This book contributes to the emerging field of evolutionary literary criticism. Vermeule draws upon recent research in cognitive science to understand the mental processes underlying human social interactions without sacrificing solid literary criticism. People interested in literary theory, in cognitive analyses of the arts, and in Darwinian approaches to human culture will find much to ponder in Why Do We Care about Literary Characters?

Editorial Reviews

Review

Mind reading, a term oft-circulated within cognitive quarters, refers to the human capacity to infer and keep track of the intentional states of others... Vermule's main contention is that literature refines this skill and helps readers cultivate 'Machiavellian intelligence'—her name for the cognitive advantages that may have evolved in the context of an increasingly complex social order.

(Michelle Ty Qui Parle 2010)

Wide-ranging and jaunty... Vermeule is a major voice in the effort to bring the insights of cognitive science (especially evolutionary psychology) to bear on topics in eighteenth-century literary studies... We arrive at a new and exciting take on the familiar terrain of the eighteenth-century novel.

(Jonathan Kramnick Studies in English Literature 2010)

The book reads as a tour through literary evocations of mindedness, written by someone with a keen sense of texts and a sharp interest in the contemporary intellectual scene. It will be of interest to anyone who cares about what literature can teach us about the way our minds work.

(Jonathan Brody Kramnick, Rutgers University )

From the Back Cover

Blakey Vermeule wonders how readers become involved in the lives of fictional characters, people they know do not exist.

This book contributes to the emerging field of evolutionary literary criticism. Vermeule draws upon recent research in cognitive science to understand the mental processes underlying human social interactions without sacrificing solid literary criticism. People interested in literary theory, in cognitive analyses of the arts, and in Darwinian approaches to human culture will find much to ponder in Why Do We Care about Literary Characters?

"Wide-ranging and jaunty... Vermeule is a major voice in the effort to bring the insights of cognitive science (especially evolutionary psychology) to bear on topics in eighteenth-century literary studies... We arrive at a new and exciting take on the familiar terrain of the eighteenth-century novel."— Studies in English Literature

"Mind reading, a term oft-circulated within cognitive quarters, refers to the human capacity to infer and keep track of the intentional states of others... Vermule's main contention is that literature refines this skill and helps readers cultivate 'Machiavellian intelligence'—her name for the cognitive advantages that may have evolved in the context of an increasingly complex social order."— Qui Parle

"The book reads as a tour through literary evocations of mindedness, written by someone with a keen sense of texts and a sharp interest in the contemporary intellectual scene. It will be of interest to anyone who cares about what literature can teach us about the way our minds work."—Jonathan Brody Kramnick, Rutgers University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (December 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801893607
• ISBN-13: 978-0801893605
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,253,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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