On Cognitive Literary Studies: Why We Read Fiction by Lisa Zunshine

Buy the Kindle version of Why We Read Fiction for $1.58 on Amazon:

My take on a crucial text by one of the most important cognitive literary theorists around.
Are you familiar with Cognitive Literary Theory? Do you think it's a lot of crap or do you see some truth in it? How do you react to the idea that we're all hardwired to read in a certain way?
(Moreover, would you like me to film more videos on the topic of literary theory?)
Let me know in the comments!

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[theundefinedphotographer]

I found your channel because I'm doing some research on Marie Laure-Ryan and Lisa Zunshine and you had 2 great reviews on their books. My current graduate research resolves around defining plot structure based on the experientiality of the protagonist, so both Ryan and Zunshine are extremely relevant to my field. I think Zunshine presents a very interesting case, even if a bit extreme. I do appreciate the direction that she's talking in centralizing the human need to be social and to connect. A lot of traditional narratology seems to forgo the importance of characters and just focus on plots and events external to characters.

[nickthelen]

Dr. Zunshine is a professor at my university in America, the University of Kentucky. While I've not had her as a professor, in one of my courses this semester she visited our class (maybe two weeks ago?) to talk to us. During this part of the course we were beginning to read Mrs. Dalloway.

We discussed "Why We Read Fiction, " our ideas about it, its applications... just general things. I personally think there is a sound basis to this work, though perhaps there are some aspects that appear to extreme. It was a tremendous discussion- very insightful and thought-provoking, and I enjoyed it a great deal.

She is definitely an extremely intelligent and hardworking scholar, and I know that our university is extremely proud to have her on staff. Many students in my class have taken her numerous times and loved her. It's cool to see someone from around the world engaging in a discussion about someone I interacted with only a short time ago!

[thuntz]

Awesome! Free for Kindle. Just downloaded! Thank you! ^^

[chokingmessiah]

Anything claiming "The Truth", even a scientific study, will be inaccurate and assumptive. There are many reasons people read. Another thing, I absolutely get off with description most of the time. To me this is just another attempt at devaluing and generalizing the humanities because our connection to things cannot be easily explained away. Where's the book "Why we read philosophy" or "Why we read poetry". It's too general and too basic- some answers tend to be a little deeper than we allow ourselves to go- even beyond "cognitive science".