
Useful Fictions
Evolution, Anxiety, and the Origins of Literature
Michael Austin(Author)
University of Nebraska Press
Published on 1. January 2011
Book
Hardback
192 pages
978-0-8032-3026-2 (ISBN)
Description
"We tell ourselves stories in order to live," Joan Didion observed in The White Album. Why is this? Michael Austin asks, in Useful Fictions. Why, in particular, are human beings, whose very survival depends on obtaining true information, so drawn to fictional narratives? After all, virtually every human culture reveres some form of storytelling. Might there be an evolutionary reason behind our species' need for stories? Drawing on evolutionary biology, anthropology, narrative theory, cognitive psychology, game theory, and evolutionary aesthetics, Austin develops the concept of a "useful fiction," a simple narrative that serves an adaptive function unrelated to its factual one. In his work we see how these useful fictions play a key role in neutralizing the overwhelming anxiety that humans can experience as their minds gather and process information. Rudimentary narratives constructed for this purpose, Austin suggests, provided a cognitive scaffold that might have become the basis for our well-documented love of fictional stories. Written in clear, jargon-free prose and employing abundant literary examples-from the Bible to One Thousand and One Arabian Nights and Don Quixote to No Exit-Austin's work offers a new way of understanding the relationship between fiction and evolutionary processes-and, perhaps, the very origins of literature.
Reviews / Votes
"Rich in relevant allusions to scientific research and literary art, Austin's book demonstrates that the evolutionary utility of fiction, more than its truth or beauty, supports the universal attraction of humans to literature."-C.J. Bell, ChoiceMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Lincoln
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
2 illustrations, 1 table
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
386 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8032-3026-2 (9780803230262)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
01/2011
University of Nebraska Press
€49.49
Available for download
Person
Michael Austin is the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas. He is the author of Reading the World: Ideas that Matter and the editor of A Voice in the Wilderness: Conversations with Terry Tempest Williams.
Content
Introduction: The Big QuestionIllustrations1. Scheherazade's Stories and Pangloss's Nose2. Stories for Thinking3. The Influence of Anxiety4. Information Anxiety5. The Problem of Other People6. Sex, Lies, and Phenotypes7. Deceiving Ourselves and OthersConclusionWorks CitedNotesIndex