This book argues that, as literature is among the most powerful and flexible instruments of human thought, it invites a cognitive mode of criticism, one which asserts the priority of individual literary works as unique products of human cognition. The introductory chapter presents some key themes (kinesis, mind-reading, communication, the recognition of life) without technical elaboration. Chapter 2 provides a more systematic account of these themes and their interdisciplinary context, sketching arguments from cognitive psychology, philosophy, linguistics, neuroscience, and evolutionary studie ... More

This book argues that, as literature is among the most powerful and flexible instruments of human thought, it invites a cognitive mode of criticism, one which asserts the priority of individual literary works as unique products of human cognition. The introductory chapter presents some key themes (kinesis, mind-reading, communication, the recognition of life) without technical elaboration. Chapter 2 provides a more systematic account of these themes and their interdisciplinary context, sketching arguments from cognitive psychology, philosophy, linguistics, neuroscience, and evolutionary studies; it discusses the relations between literary and scientific method, the notion of cognition as essentially embodied, and the choice of relevance theory as a viable linguistic model for literary analysis. Chapter 3 returns to the fine grain of literature itself with two close readings. Subsequent chapters provide a detailed account of the notion of ‘affordances’ and its pertinence to literary study, and an extended reflection on the imagination as a mode of cognition. This opens up two further lines of enquiry: Chapter 6 explores a cognitive approach to literary ‘images’; Chapter 7 focuses on cognitive mimesis in a scene from King Lear and an episode from Mme de Lafayette’s Princesse de Clèves. A detailed cognitive analysis of Conrad’s Lord Jim in Chapter 8 brings together themes of immersion, kinesis, mind-reading, and cognitive dissonance. The final chapter discusses the question of literary values within the cognitive perspective. A ‘virtual manifesto for a cognitive approach to literary studies’ is offered in lieu of an epilogue.