Kafka's Cognitive Realism

Routledge

KAFKA, FRANZ

Troscianko, Emily

Kafka's Cognitive Realism (Routledge Studies in Rhetoric and Stylistics)

This book uses insights from the cognitive sciences to illuminate Kafka’s poetics, exemplifying a paradigm for literary studies in which cognitive-scientific insights are brought to bear directly on literary texts. The volume shows that the concept of "cognitive realism" can be a critically productive framework for exploring how textual evocations of cognition correspond to or diverge from cognitive realities, and how this may affect real readers. In particular, it argues that Kafka’s evocations of visual perception (including narrative perspective) and emotion can be understood as fundamentally enactive, and that in this sense they are "cognitively realistic". These cognitively realistic qualities are likely to establish a compellingly direct connection with the reader’s imagination, but because they contradict folk-psychological assumptions about how our minds work, they may also leave the reader unsettled. This is the first time a fully interdisciplinary research paradigm has been used to explore a single author’s fictional works in depth, opening up avenues for future research in cognitive literary science.

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Henry Winstanley and the Eddystone Lighthouse

On 26 November 1703, during the worst storm that Britain had ever seen, Henry Winstanley died in his pioneering lighthouse as it was blown apart. He had defied incredible odds to build the first Eddystone Lighthouse in 1698, saving the lives of many sailors from the fate of the thousands who previously died upon the rocks. The Great Gale not only destroyed the man and his lighthouse, but also saw complete devastation throughout the land. And at sea, some 8000 sailors were drowned that night, within yards of the land. Winstanley was an ingenious man. He owned a house of gadgets which was one of London's foremost attractions for decades. In 1695, two of his five ships were lost on Eddystone. He was determined that no more ships should founder and, though thwarted by weather and politics, he built a lighthouse, the first of its kind. It survived terrible winters and withstood devastating storms, guiding ships away from the treacherous rocks that lay ahead with its dim candlelight. After the great storm it was as if the lighthouse had never been. Ultimately, Winstanley's lighthouse led to the building of others on the Eddystone rocks and beyond, thus transforming the safety of shipping. This illustrated work vividly recreates the story of the Eddystone Lighthouse, the character of the man who built it with grim determination fighting against all odds, and the power of the elements that finally destroyed them both.

Biographies & Memoirs

HART-DAVIS, Adam

Arts & Literature

Sutton Pub Ltd

The Shellfish Nest

Teen & Young Adult

Tamarisk Books

The Very Hungry Anorexic

Self-Help

Eating Disorders & Body Image

This recollection by much-admired author and presenter Adam Hart-Davis takes the reader on a fascinating tour of an altogether different kind—a whirlwind tour of the history and mysteries of urine. The scientific aspects are presented in the author's own clear and engaging style, filled with the charm of someone who clearly loves his subject. A humorous, compulsive assortment of tales surrounding everyone from Marilyn Monroe to the Victorians, Taking the Piss also reveals exciting discoveries about an area with which we are all passingly familiar.

Taking the Piss: A Potted History of Pee

Science & Math

Nonsuch Publishing

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Books by Troscianko, Emily