Bridging the two cultures: literary studies through the looking glass of cognitive science
Bridging the two cultures: literary studies through the looking glass of cognitive science

Summary/Abstract: In this survey article, Jean-François Vernay purports to retrace the genesis of Cognitive Literary Studies and examine its potential to bring scientific insights to the study of literature. More specifically, his reflexion attempts to determine whether Cognitive Literary Studies is able to bridge “the excitement of connecting scientific principles with a love of literature”, as Peter Stockwell has it. Vernay explores the cognitive and literary intersections through which the cognitive paradigm in Literary Studies is helping to redefine the boundaries between literary and scientific knowledge, renew literary criticism and reconsider one of the defining traits of fiction. What might be dismissed as an umpteenth interdisciplinary approach may in fact hold the key to discarding blue-sky conceptions of fiction while giving teachers and book professionals a cogent and much-coveted argument for the usefulness of literature.

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