Neurocognitive Interpretations of Australian Literature

Rezensionen / Stimmen

"Jean-Francois Vernay makes the case in this book for a turn to cognitive Australian literary studies, both in Australian novels themselves and in the emergence of a "synergistic field of cognitive-inspired Australian literary scholarship". These are new, provocative ideas which offer unexpected ways of reading a wide range of Australian fiction from Markus Zusak to Frank Moorhouse, from Claire Coleman to Christos Tsiolkas, from Linda Jaivin to Helen Demidenko. The analyses are fully alert to the scopic and haptic pleasures books can provide, the effects of the "neurodiversity paradigm", the cognitive mechanisms generated by erotic themes, the interaction between mind and body in Indigenous fiction, the representation of rage in the works of "angry gay" writers, and the major public controversy caused by Demidenko's novel."

David Carter, Emeritus Professor, FAHA, The University of Queensland, Australia.

"The understanding of what we humans get up to with each other, as members of our species and our cultures, has been the principal aspiration of both cognitive psychology and literary studies. Until very recently, however, these two disciplines have stayed rather far apart. In this timely monograph, Jean-Francois Vernay describes how they are at last approaching each other in mutually beneficial ways. This book shows how fiction and imagination are together coming into the centre of the neurocognitive enterprise."

Keith Oatley, Author of Our Minds, Our Selves: A Brief History of Psychology. "Jean-Francois Vernay makes the case in this book for a turn to cognitive Australian literary studies, both in Australian novels themselves and in the emergence of a "synergistic field of cognitive-inspired Australian literary scholarship". These are new, provocative ideas which offer unexpected ways of reading a wide range of Australian fiction from Markus Zusak to Frank Moorhouse, from Claire Coleman to Christos Tsiolkas, from Linda Jaivin to Helen Demidenko. The analyses are fully alert to the scopic and haptic pleasures books can provide, the effects of the "neurodiversity paradigm", the cognitive mechanisms generated by erotic themes, the interaction between mind and body in Indigenous fiction, the representation of rage in the works of "angry gay" writers, and the major public controversy caused by Demidenko's novel."

David Carter, Emeritus Professor, FAHA, The University of Queensland, Australia.

"The understanding of what we humans get up to with each other, as members of our species and our cultures, has been the principal aspiration of both cognitive psychology and literary studies. Until very recently, however, these two disciplines have stayed rather far apart. In this timely monograph, Jean-Francois Vernay describes how they are at last approaching each other in mutually beneficial ways. This book shows how fiction and imagination are together coming into the centre of the neurocognitive enterprise."

Keith Oatley, Author of Our Minds, Our Selves: A Brief History of Psychology.

"It offers a range of case studies variously linked to findings from neuroscience and cognitive psychology. Markus Zusak's The Book Thief [2005] captures the haptic and aesthetic joy we derive from the look and feel of books (and the gut attraction to fires). The Bildungsroman form in Christopher Koch's novels leads to speculation that the 'plastic brain' could be rewired as we read of growth from innocence to experience. Graeme Simsion's Rosie series [2013-19] draws on knowledge of autism and encourages acceptance of 'neurodiverse' people. Erotic and grunge literature (Moorhouse and Jaivin) connect with biochemical reactions to create reader responses. Aboriginal writing of traumatic experience suggests a knowledge of body-mind interaction that coincides with neurocognitive findings. Rage in gay fiction (Tsiolkas and Polites) and indignation in reviews of the Demidenko hoax shows how literary writing and criticism can be infused with strong emotions, with both negative and positive effects. As Vernay says in his evangelical introduction, this new wave of literary theory so far has concentrated on affect, and much remains to be developed."

Paul Sharrad, The Year's Work in English Studies (Oxford Academic) Chapter 17: New Literatures, 2 August 2023