Prosaics and other provocations
Subtitle: empathy, open time, and the novel
By: Gary Saul Morson
Series: Ars Rossica; Ars Rossika
Publisher: Academic Studies Pr; Academic Studies Press
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 274
ISBN-13: 9781618111616; 9781618118097
Subjects: Theory; Empathy in literature; History and criticism; Events (Philosophy) in literature; Prose literature; Fiction
Description: This far-ranging study develops Morson's concept of "prosaics," which stresses the importance of ordinary events and the novel's unique ability to portray them. Arguing that time is open and contingency real, Morson develops a "prosaics of process" showing how some masterpieces have found an alternative to structure. His well-known pseudonym Alicia Chudo, the inventor of "misanthropology," explores the disturbing philosophical content of laughter, disgust, and even empathy. Northwestern University's most popular professor, Morson attributes declining student interest in literature to current teaching methods. He argues in favor of showing how literature fosters empathy with people unlike ourselves. Ever playful, Morson explores the relation of games to wit, which expresses the power of the mind to triumph over contingency in the social world.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Part one: Overture; title: What is Prosaics?; title: Part two: Narrativeness; title: The Prosaics of process; title: The vision of poetics and product; title: The counter-tradition: presentness and process; title: Outlining a Prosaics of process; title: Part three: What is Misanthropology?; title: Misanthropology: Voyeurism and human nature / Alicia Chudo; title: Misanthropology, continued: disgust, violence, and more on voyeurism / Alicia Chudo; title: Another look at voyeurism; title: Identification; title: Laughter and disgust; title: Misanthropology in verse: an onegin of our times / Alicia Chudo; title: Part four: What is literary Education?; title: Novelistic empathy, and how to teach it; title: Part five: What is wit?; title: Contingency, games, and wit.