SCHOLARLY COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: THE FOUR “SHOWERS OF GOLD”
SCHOLARLY COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: THE FOUR “SHOWERS OF GOLD”

Summary/Abstract: Cognitive dissonance has been described as the result of a conflict or opposition between one’s expectations and what he/she really gets at the end of his/her quest—or research, rather. In this case, a reader who knows that there is a Greek/Roman myth about Danae giving birth to Perseus after Zeus/Jove visited her as a shower of gold, expects that Zane Grey’s novel Shower of Gold(a really peculiar case), Eudora Welty’s “Shower of Gold” and Donald Barthelme’s “A Shower of Gold” should share a number of characteristics or/and elements. As, generally speaking, they do not, frustration sets in and the reader/critic/scholar attempts to reduce the (effects of) cognitive dissonance and come to terms with what he/she chose to investigate. The paper is basically written from an ironic and self-ironic stance, since while experiencing the title syndrome, the author had to find a way/ways of reducing it, too.

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