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Zusatztext So does this combination of fiction and psychology work? Certainly. Both parts - story and exposition - are essential to the whole. This combination leads, eventually, to a deeper insight into the psychology of fiction. Informationen zum Autor Keith Oatley is professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto. He is the author of six books of psychology and co-author of the textbook Understanding Emotions. He has published over 150 scholarly articles, the majority on the psychology of emotions and the psychology of fiction. Klappentext The emotions a character feels--Hamlet's vengefulness when he realizes his uncle has killed his father, Anna Karenina's despair when she feels she can longer sustain her life, Marcel's joy when he tastes a piece of madeleine cake--are vital aspects of the experience of fiction. As Keith Oatley points out, it's not just the emotions of literary characters such as these in which we are interested. If we didn't ourselves experience emotions, we wouldn't go to the play, or watch the film, or read the book. In The Passionate Muse, Oatley, who is both a prize-winning novelist and a distinguished research psychologist, offers a hybrid book that alternates sections of an original short story, "One Another," with chapters that illuminate the psychology of emotion and fiction. Oatley not only provides insight into how people engage in stories, he also illuminates the value of emotion and the importance of stories for our psychological well-being. Indeed, he offers evidence that the more fiction we read, the better is our understandings of others. Through fiction, we come to know more about the emotions of others and ourselves. Zusammenfassung Fiction is based on narratives in which characters act on their intentions and encounter vicissitudes. Readers enjoy entering into the lives of characters, coming to empathize with them as their plans progress or they meet obstacles. Readers enjoy, too, meeting characters with whom they sympathize, and being reminded of emotional episodes in their own lives. Keith Oatley is both a novelist and research psychologist, and so it is not surprising that he has created a hybrid text that alternates between sections of an original short story, One Another, and chapters on the psychology of emotion and fiction. People's enjoyment of stories depends on the emotions they experience as they read, watch, or listen. We human beings are intensely social and it's to imagined social worlds that fiction transports us, enabling us to meet more people and feel for them in many more situations than we could if we lived many lives. In this text, the author explains why people who read a great deal of fiction have better understandings of others than those who tend to read nonfiction. He argues that through fiction, we come to know more about the emotions of others and of ourselves. Inhaltsverzeichnis One another-- Part I Chapter 1. Enjoyment One another-- Part II Chapter 2. The suspense of plot One another-- Part III Chapter 3. Falling in love One another-- Part IV Chapter 4. Loss and sadness One another-- Part V Chapter 5. Transformation One another-- Part VI Chapter 6. Anger and retribution One another-- Part VII Chapter 7. Other minds Chapter 8. Reflection Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography ...
