Can I read Knowing Subjects: Cognitive Cultural Studies and Early Modern Spanish Literature (Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures) on EtoBox?

Knowing Subjects: Cognitive Cultural Studies and Early Modern Spanish Literature (Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures) by Barbara Simerka is a book available to read on EtoBox.

What is Knowing Subjects: Cognitive Cultural Studies and Early Modern Spanish Literature (Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures) about?

In Knowing Subjects, Barbara Simerka uses an emergent field of literary study-cognitive cultural studies-to delineate new ways of looking at early modern Spanish literature and to analyze cognition and social identity in Spain at the time. Simerka analyzes works by Cervantes and Gracían, as well as picaresque novels and comedias. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, she brings together several strands of cognitive theory and details the synergies among neurological, anthropological, and psychological discoveries that provide new insights into human cognition. Her analysis draws on Theory of Mind, the cognitive activity that enables humans to predict what others will do, feel, think, and believe. Theory of Mind looks at how primates, including humans, conceptualize the thoughts and rationales behind other people's actions and use those insights to negotiate social relationships. This capacity is a necessary precursor to a wide variety of human interactions-both positive and negative-from projecting and empathizing to lying and cheating. Simerka applies this theory to texts involving courtship or social advancement, activities in which deception is most prevalent-and productive.

Author

Barbara Simerka

Publisher

Purdue University Press

Published

2013

Language

EN

ISBN

9781557536440

Subjects

History, Psychology, Romance