Why We Read Fiction_ Theory of Mind and the Novel - Lisa Zunshine [0]
THEORY OF MIND AND THE NOVEL
Lisa Zunshine
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS COLUMBUS
Copyright © 2006 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zunshine, Lisa. Why we read fiction : theory of mind and the novel / Lisa Zunshine.
p. cm.—(Theory and interpretation of narrative series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8142-1028-7 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 0-8142-5151-X (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Fiction. 2. Fiction—Psychological aspects. 3. Books and reading. 4. Cognitive science.
I. Title. II. Series. PN3331.Z86 2006 809.3—dc22
2005028358
Cover design by Laurence Nozik. Text design and typesetting by Jennifer Forsythe. Type set in Adobe Garamond. Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48-1992.
98765432 1
Contents
List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix
PART I: ATTRIBUTING MINDS
1. Why Did Peter Walsh Tremble? 3
2. What Is Mind-Reading (Also Known as Theory of Mind)? 6
3. Theory of Mind, Autism, and Fiction: Four Caveats 10
4. "Effortless" Mind-Reading 13
5. Why Do We Read Fiction? 16
6. The Novel as a Cognitive Experiment 22
7. Can Cognitive Science Tell Us Why We Are Afraid of Mrs. Dalloway ? 27
8. The Relationship between a "Cognitive" Analysis of Mrs. Dalloway and the Larger Field of Literary Studies 36
9. Woolf, Pinker, and the Project of Interdisciplinarity 40
PART II: TRACKING MINDS
1. Whose Thought Is It, Anyway? 47
2. Metarepresentational Ability and Schizophrenia 54
3. Everyday Failures of Source-Monitoring 58
4. Monitoring Fictional States of Mind 60
5. "Fiction" and "History" 65
6. Tracking Minds in Beowulf 73
7. Don Quixote and His Progeny 75
8. Source-Monitoring, ToM, and the Figure of the Unreliable Narrator 77
9. Source-Monitoring and the Implied Author 79
10. Richardson's Clarissa: The Progress of the Elated Bridegroom 82
(a) Mind-Games in Clarissa 83
(b) Enter the Reader 91
11. Nabokov's Lolita: The Deadly Demon Meets and Destroys the Tenderhearted Boy 100
(a) " Distributed" Mind-Reading I: A "comic, clumsy, wavering Prince Charming" 103
(b) " Distributed" Mind-Reading II: An "immortal daemon disguised as a female child" 109
(c) How Do We Know When Humbert Is Reliable? 112
PART III: CONCEALING MINDS
1. ToM and the Detective Novel: What Does It Take to Suspect Everybody? 121
2. Why Is Reading a Detective Story a Lot like Lifting Weights at the Gym? 123
3. Metarepresentationality and Some Recurrent Patterns of the Detective Story 128
(a) One Liar Is Expensive, Several Liars Are Insupportable 130
(b) There Are No Material Clues Independent from Mind-Reading 133
(c) Mind-Reading Is an Equal Opportunity Endeavor 138
(d) "Alone Again, Naturally" 141
4. A Cognitive Evolutionary Perspective: Always Historicize! 153
CONCLUSION: WHY DO WE READ (AND WRITE) FICTION?
1. Authors Meet Their Readers 159
2. Is This Why We Read Fiction? Surely, There Is More to It! 162
Notes 165 Bibliography 181 Index 193
Illustrations
Figure 1 "Of course I care about how you imagined I thought you perceived I wanted you to feel." © The New Yorker Collection 1998 Bruce Eric Kaplan from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved. 30
Figure 2 Clarissa dying. Reproduced courtesy of McMaster University Library. 83
Figure 3 Book cover of MANEATER by Gigi Levangie Grazer reproduced with the permission of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group. Book cover, Copyright © 2003 by Simon & Schuster. All rights reserved. Michael Mahovlich / Masterfile (image code 700-075736). 144
Figure 4 "What else is there that I can buy you with?" Sam Spade and Brigid O'Shaughnessy before Sam finds out that she killed Archer. 151
Figure 5 "When one in your organization gets killed, it is a bad business to let the killer get away with it—bad all around, bad for every detective everywhere." Sam and Brigid after he realizes that