Cognition, Mindreading, and Shakespeare's Characters

Beschreibung

Cognition, Mindreading, and Shakespeare's Characters brings cognitive science to Shakespeare, applying contemporary theories of mindreading to Shakespeare’s construction of character. Building on the work of the philosopher Alvin Goldman and cognitive literary critics such as Bruce McConachie and Lisa Zunshine, Nicholas Helms uses the language of mindreading to analyze inference and imagination throughout Shakespeare’s plays, dwelling at length on misread minds in King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare manipulates the mechanics of misreading to cultivate an early modern audience of adept mindreaders, an audience that continues to contemplate the moral ramifications of Shakespeare’s characters even after leaving the playhouse. Using this cognitive literary approach, Helms reveals how misreading fuels Shakespeare’s enduring popular appeal and investigates the ways in which Shakespeare’s characters can both corroborate andchallenge contemporary cognitive theories of the human mind.

Cognition, Mindreading, and Shakespeare's Characters brings cognitive science to Shakespeare, applying contemporary theories of mindreading to Shakespeare’s construction of character. Building on the work of the philosopher Alvin Goldman and cognitive literary critics such as Bruce McConachie and Lisa Zunshine, Nicholas Helms uses the language of mindreading to analyze inference and imagination throughout Shakespeare’s plays, dwelling at length on misread minds in King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare manipulates the mechanics of misreading to cultivate an early modern audience of adept mindreaders, an audience that continues to contemplate the moral ramifications of Shakespeare’s characters even after leaving the playhouse. Using this cognitive literary approach, Helms reveals how misreading fuels Shakespeare’s enduring popular appeal and investigates the ways in which Shakespeare’s characters can both corroborate and challenge contemporary cognitive theories of the human mind.

Autor*in

Nicholas R. Helms

Themen in »Cognition, Mindreading, and Shakespeare's Characters«

cognitive pyschology cognitive literary studies literary disability studies ecocriticism literary animal studies character study character criticism age studies mindreading Shakespeare

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“Helms uses the tools of cognitive science to reveal the ways Shakespeare’s plays instruct audiences and readers in the nuances of mindreading—the construction of others’ thoughts from bodily evidence and by imaginative extrapolation. In addition to making a clear and compelling case for using current cognitive theory to decipher Renaissance texts, Helms gives us innovative readings—revisiting Lucrece’s trauma for her failed efforts to read Tarquin, treating Iago as a kind of psychic parasite, thinking about death in Verona through the lives of carrion flies—that reinvigorate Shakespeare studies.” (Karen Raber, Professor of English, University of Mississippi, USA)

“Cognition, Mindreading, and Shakespeare’s Characters brilliantly brings together sensitive and critical accounts of research in the contemporary cognitive sciences; deft close readings of Shakespeare’s plays; and a fresh approach to character criticism.  Helms breaks new ground in the field; his emphasis upon misreadings and other forms of error both draws upon and critiques cognitive theories of mind, resulting in an interdisciplinary study that is genuinely bi-directional.” (Evelyn Tribble, Professor of English, University of Connecticut, USA)

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