Psychonarratology is an approach to the empirical study of literary response and the processing of narrative. It draws on the empirical methodology of cognitive psychology and discourse processing as well as the theoretical insights and conceptual analysis of literary studies, particularly narratology. The present work provides a conceptual and empirical basis for this interdisciplinary approach that is accessible to researchers from either disciplinary background. An integrative review is presented of the classic problems in narratology: the status of the narrator, events (...) and plot, characters and characterization, speech and thought, and focalization. For each area, Bortolussi and Dixon critique the state of the art in narratology and literary studies, discuss relevant work in cognitive psychology, and provide a new analytical framework based on the insight that readers treat the narrator as a conversational participant. Empirical evidence is presented on each problem, much of it previously unpublished. (shrink)

Using new empirical evidence, this book weaves together insights from a multidisciplinary review into a comprehensive theory on perspective taking. It is written for anyone interested in the phenomenon of perspective taking, including psychologists, literary scholars, linguists, philosophers, and educators.

An analogy is drawn between the processes of human language evolution and the ongoing discoveries concerning how the human genome is constructed. Mutational evolution may be thought of in linguistic terms as an alternation in the genetic code following morphemic substitutions, deletions or additions. This may be termed an endosemiotic analysis where semiotic processes may be found at the biochemical level of the genome. Hence, owing to these genetic changes, phenotypic alterations in the morphology of the organism create those evolutionary (...) changes seen in the development of the phyla in the paleontological record. We are now witnessing the inclusion of the genome of all species both plant and animal within our material culture as we begin to modify these genotypes with recombinant DNA/rna technology. The coevolution of language and the genetic code may then occur as we begin to more thoroughly understand these interrelated evolutionary processes. (shrink)

This paper seeks to clarify the proximate end. A distinction is made between the definition of an act and the identification of an act. The principle of objectified circumstances is postulated which, without expanding beyond the proximate end, gives due weight to both the perspective of the acting person and the context within which an act occurs. POC is used to help discern the object contained within the proximate end. It is applied to the issues of euthanasia, lying, mutilation, and (...) the controversy between Martin Rhonheimer and Janet Smith concerning the use of condoms for HIV protection. The challenge of angelism is addressed. The paper argues that the object, located exclusively in the proximate end, can be understood in a way that is sensitive to both traditionalist and proportionalist schools of thought. POC opens up an avenue of thought for fresh dialogue concerning the identification of the moral object. (shrink)