Description |
1 online resource (ix, 305 pages) : illustrations |
Series |
Cognitive studies in literature and performance |
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Cognitive studies in literature and performance.
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Contents |
PART I: METHODS AND RESULTS -- A User's Manual -- Agonistic Structure Differentiated by Sex -- PART II: IMPLICATIONS -- Determinate Meanings -- Sexual Politics -- Adaptive Function -- PART III: CASE STUDIES -- Jane Austen, by the Numbers -- Indifferent Tragedy in The Mayor of Casterbridge |
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Introduction -- Methods and results. A user's manual; Agonistic structure differentiated by sex -- Implications. Determinate meanings; Sexual politics; Adaptive function -- Case studies. Jane Austen, by the numbers; Indifferent tragedy in The mayor of Casterbridge -- Conclusion -- Glossary -- Appendices. A link to the questionnaire; Characters for whom protocols were completed; The distribution of characters in sets; Notes on statistical procedures; Results of factor analysis for emotional responses, motives, and mate selection; Statistically significant results |
Summary |
Building on findings in the evolutionary human sciences, we constructed a model of human nature and used it to illuminate the evolved psychology that shapes the organization of characters in nineteenth-century British novels (Austen to Forster). Hundreds of readers gave numerical ratings to the attributes of hundreds of characters and also rated their own emotional responses to the characters. We draw conclusions about the determinacy of literary meaning, interactions between gender and the ethos of community, and the adaptive function of morally polarized characterization. The broad patterns in the novels provide a framework for two case studies: the novels of Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
Subject |
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 -- Characters.
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Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928 -- Characters
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SUBJECT |
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 fast |
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Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928 fast |
Subject |
Characters and characteristics in literature -- Statistics
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English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism
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English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
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Human behavior in literature.
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Reader-response criticism.
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LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh.
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Characters and characteristics
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Characters and characteristics in literature
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English fiction
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Human behavior in literature
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Reader-response criticism
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Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
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Statistics
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Form |
Electronic book
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Author |
Carroll, Joseph, 1949-
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ISBN |
9781137002419 |
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1137002417 |
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