Cognitive Approaches to World Literature

Catalog description

Cognitive science has long recognized narrative as a basic organizing principle of our minds. Storytelling is how we make sense of the world, & the most powerful fictions of world literature are ones that give a sense of coherence. This course introduces students to key issues of world literature along with current findings on human identity in neuro-cognitive sciences. We will study significant developments in contemporary views of mind/brain, as well as read great texts of world literature through a cognitive lens. Alongside key critical & scientific articles, we will read some of the world's best stories (from 1001 Nights to Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go) as case studies for current debates in world literature & cognitive neuroscience.