Presented as part of the SLLL Literary Studies Seminar Series

Recent movements in literature and the humanities have drawn upon insights gleaned from biological sciences in the search for new analysis and further relevance. For some scholars this is viewed as a renaissance while for others it represents a dangerous trend towards reductionism. This project offers to mediate between these two perspectives, showing the promise and the pitfalls of this new interdisciplinary engagement, chiefly focusing on the distinct critical trends of ‘Cognitive Poetics’ and ‘Neuroaesthetics’. The project argues that the role of perceptual processes in relation to aesthetic engagement with literature is ripe for further study. It offers three case studies of modern authors whose literary style invites comparison with perceptual and sensory processes: Jack Kerouac’s musically inspired prose style, Virginia Woolf’s stylistic use of Impressionism, and Vladimir Nabokov’s synaesthesia inspired attention to sensory detail. Collectively these studies offer an account of how literary criticism infused with cognitive science can illuminate new understandings of aesthetic and perceptual engagement with literature.

Michael Bartlett is a final year PhD candidate in SLLL whose research interests include 20th century novels, ‘neurocriticism’, aesthetics and the interaction between literature, film, visual art and music.