Dynamic Processes and Reading Novels

This book is about the dynamic processes that generate novel-reading. It introduces a process dynamics approach to reading novels and analyses The PowerBook, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Oryx and Crake in innovative terms of encounters among dynamic processes.

This book is about the dynamic processes that generate novel-reading. It takes the view that the world is composed of dynamic processes and introduces a process dynamics approach to articulate this stance. This fresh perspective draws on literary studies, process philosophy and neuroscience to argue that dynamic literary and microcognitive processes constantly reconfigure the conditions that they co-create during reading. Analyses of The PowerBook by Jeanette Winterson, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood consider style, narration, allusion and creativity in interaction with diverse microcognitive processes involved in reading. The analyses are strengthened by taking live action into account, illuminating changes that many critical perspectives miss or standardise and avoiding reliance on illusory ideal readers and readings. In proposing a process approach to dynamics and its analysis, this book paves the way for new research across disciplines.

Autorentext

Irene O'Leary is a literary scholar and teacher.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

2 Theorising process dynamics

Process and change: process philosophy

Instability and reconfiguration: complexity theory

Dynamic co-creation: cognitive science of reading

Towards dynamic reading processes: cognition in literary studies

Key process dynamics concepts

3 Perturbations, style and microcognition

Grammar and microcognition: The.PowerBook

Characterisation and microcognition: Oryx and Crake

Humour and microcognition: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

4 Morpharchy, narration, working memory and time

Narration, working memory and morpharchy

Fictional time, experienced time and morpharchy

5 Dispersal, allusions and memory

Literary allusions, neural activations and dispersal

Interdisciplinary allusions, memory and dispersal

6 Creativity, fiction and reading

Un/orthodoxy and attention: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Black novelties and association: Oryx and Crake

Storytelling and creativity: The.PowerBook

7 Conclusion

Index