Why Lyrics Last

Download or read book Why Lyrics Last written by Brian Boyd and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-19 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that lyric making is universal across cultures, and uses the example of Shakespeare's "Sonnets" to showcase the human disposition to play with lyrical patterns.

Download or read book Why Lyrics Last written by Brian Boyd and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-05 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Why Lyrics Last, the internationally acclaimed critic Brian Boyd turns an evolutionary lens on the subject of lyric verse. He finds that lyric making, though it presents no advantages for the species in terms of survival and reproduction, is “universal across cultures because it fits constraints of the human mind.” An evolutionary perspective— especially when coupled with insights from aesthetics and literary history—has much to tell us about both verse and the lyrical impulse. Boyd places the writing of lyrical verse within the human disposition “to play with pattern,” and in an extended example he uncovers the many patterns to be found within Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Shakespeare’s bid for readership is unlike that of any sonneteer before him: he deliberately avoids all narrative, choosing to maximize the openness of the lyric and demonstrating the power that verse can have when liberated of story. In eschewing narrative, Shakespeare plays freely with patterns of other kinds: words, images, sounds, structures; emotions and moods; argument and analogy; and natural rhythms, in daily, seasonal, and life cycles. In the originality of his stratagems, and in their sheer number and variety, both within and between sonnets, Shakespeare outdoes all competitors. A reading of the Sonnets informed by evolution is primed to attend to these complexities and better able to appreciate Shakespeare’s remarkable gambit for immortal fame.

Download or read book Cognitive Literary Science written by Michael Burke and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together researchers with cognitive-scientific and literary backgrounds to present innovative research in all three variations on the possible interactions between literary studies and cognitive science. The tripartite structure of the volume reflects a more ambitious conception of what cognitive approaches to literature are and could be than is usually encountered, and thus aims both to map out and to advance the field. The first section corresponds to what most people think of as "cognitive poetics" or "cognitive literary studies": the study of literature by literary scholars drawing on cognitive-scientific methods, findings, and/or debates to yield insights into literature. The second section demonstrates that literary scholars needn't only make use of cognitive science to study literature, but can also, in a reciprocally interdisciplinary manner, use a cognitively informed perspective on literature to offer benefits back to the cognitive sciences. Finally, the third section, "literature in cognitive science", showcases some of the ways in which literature can be a stimulating object of study and a fertile testing ground for theories and models, not only to literary scholars but also to cognitive scientists, who here engage with some key questions in cognitive literary studies with the benefit of their in-depth scientific knowledge and training.

Download or read book A Prehistory of Cognitive Poetics written by Karin Kukkonen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carrying neoclassicism back into today's critical debates, this study considers the cognitive underpinnings of the rules of poetic justice, the unities and decorum, underlines their relevance for today's cognitive poetics and traces their influence in the emerging narrative form of the eighteenth-century novel.

Download or read book Shades of Laura written by Yuri Leving and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortly before Vladimir Nabokov died in 1977, he left instructions that the draft for his last novel, The Original of Laura, be destroyed. But in 2008 Dmitri Nabokov, the writer's only child and sole surviving heir, contravened his father's wishes. Formed from novelistic fragments that had been hidden from the public eye for three decades, The Original of Laura is a construction based on the conjecture of the Nabokov estate, publishers, and scholars. Shades of Laura returns to the "scene of the crime," elucidating the process of publishing Nabokov's unfinished novel from its conception - the reproduction of 138 handwritten index cards - to the simultaneous publication of translations of the final text in several languages. The essays in this collection investigate the event of publication and reconstitute the book's critical reception, reproducing a selection of some of the most salient reviews. Critics condemned Dmitri's choice, but as contributors to this volume attest, there are many more "shades" and "nuances" to his decision. The book also endeavours to allow readers to understand and evaluate an incomplete novel; contributors analyze its plot, structure, imagery, and motifs. Published after prolonged public debate, Vladimir Nabokov's The Original of Laura was dubbed "the most eagerly awaited literary novel of this fledgling century." Covering the publication from a broad spectrum of perspectives, this collection reassesses the Nabokov canon and the roots of his literary prestige. Contributors include Paul Ardoin (Florida State University), Gennady Barabtarlo (University of Missouri), Brian Boyd (University of Auckland), Marijeta Bozovic (Colgate University), Maurice Couturier (University of Nice), Lara Delage-Toriel (Strasbourg University), Galya Diment (University of Washington), Leland de la Durantaye (Claremont McKenna College), Michael Juliar (Private collector), Eric Naiman (University of California, Berkeley), Ellen Pifer (University of Delaware), Anna Raffetto (Adelphi Publishing House, Milan), Michael Rodgers (University of Strathclyde), Rien Verhoef (Leiden University), Olga Voronina (Bard College), Tadashi Wakashima (Kyoto University), Michael Wood (Princeton University), and Barbara Wyllie (Slavonic and East European Review).

Download or read book A New Literary History of Modern China written by David Der-wei Wang and published by Belknap Press. This book was released on 2017-05-22 with total page 1033 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Literature, from the Chinese perspective, makes manifest the cosmic patterns that shape and complete the world—a process of “worlding” that is much more than mere representation. In that spirit, A New Literary History of Modern China looks beyond state-sanctioned works and official narratives to reveal China as it has seldom been seen before, through a rich spectrum of writings covering Chinese literature from the late-seventeenth century to the present. Featuring over 140 Chinese and non-Chinese contributors from throughout the world, this landmark volume explores unconventional forms as well as traditional genres—pop song lyrics and presidential speeches, political treatises and prison-house jottings, to name just a few. Major figures such as Lu Xun, Shen Congwen, Eileen Chang, and Mo Yan appear in a new light, while lesser-known works illuminate turning points in recent history with unexpected clarity and force. Many essays emphasize Chinese authors’ influence on foreign writers as well as China’s receptivity to outside literary influences. Contemporary works that engage with ethnic minorities and environmental issues take their place in the critical discussion, alongside writers who embraced Chinese traditions and others who resisted. Writers’ assessments of the popularity of translated foreign-language classics and avant-garde subjects refute the notion of China as an insular and inward-looking culture. A vibrant collection of contrasting voices and points of view, A New Literary History of Modern China is essential reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of China’s literary and cultural legacy.

Download or read book Shakespeare and Conceptual Blending written by Michael Booth and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book shows how Shakespeare’s excellence as storyteller, wit and poet reflects the creative process of conceptual blending. Cognitive theory provides a wealth of new ideas that illuminate Shakespeare, even as he illuminates them, and the theory of blending, or conceptual integration, strikingly corroborates and amplifies both classic and current insights of literary criticism. This study explores how Shakespeare crafted his plots by fusing diverse story elements and compressing incidents to strengthen dramatic illusion; considers Shakespeare’s wit as involving sudden incongruities and a reckoning among differing points of view; interrogates how blending generates the “strange meaning” that distinguishes poetic expression; and situates the project in relation to other cognitive literary criticism. This book is of particular significance to scholars and students of Shakespeare and cognitive theory, as well as readers curious about how the mind works.