ENGL 55.08 Neuroscience and the Novel
Over the past few years it has been suggested that since the 1990s there has been a major shift in how novels represent characters and consciousness. This new type of novel has been called the "neuronovel." This course takes up questions at the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, and literary studies to explore this thesis. We'll read contemporary work by neurologists and psychologists (Damasio, Sacks, Gazzaniga, Schacter) as well as their late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century precursors (Freud, James, Brentano, Beard) alongside a wide range of literature that allows us to think about the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality with the universalist claims of various scientific and pseudoscientific accounts of the self. Key literary texts include Shelley, McEwan, Lethem, James, Poe, Woolf, Roth, and Wright.
Instructor
Not being offered in 2022-23
Department-Specific Course Categories
No course group assignment.