Research Catalog
Elements of surprise : our mental limits and the satisfactions of plot
- Title
- Elements of surprise : our mental limits and the satisfactions of plot / Vera Tobin.
- Author
- Tobin, Vera, 1975-
- Publication
- Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2018.
- ©2018
Items in the Library & Off-site
Filter by
1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Book/Text | Use in library | JFD 19-1539 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- 332 pages; 22 cm
- Summary
- Elements of Surprise opens with a novel but narrow focus: how a particular cognitive bias, the "curse of knowledge," underwrites stories that rely on what it calls "well-made surprise," as seen in (for example) classic detective fiction--that is, surprises in novels, films, television, and plays that set us up to be fooled in ways we find pleasing and satisfying. But from there, the book expands its reach. At its core, "cursed" thinking underlies almost everything people write, say, and think about both other people and our own pasts. The more information we have about something, and the more experience we have with it, the harder it is to step outside that experience. What unfolds is both a fresh approach to mental heuristics and biases and an ambitious work of cognitive literary criticism. Elements of Surprise provides a new and exciting way of thinking about the mechanics of narrative, explored through thoughtful readings of classic, popular, and obscure texts.--
- Subjects
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-320) and index.
- Contents
- Introduction -- Elementary problems -- The curse of knowledge? -- The poetics of surprise -- The naming of things -- Revelations, recognitions, and the satisfactions of plot -- When unreliability is a surprise -- When narration itself is a surprise -- So many things are obvious (now that we're at the end).
- Call Number
- JFD 19-1539
- ISBN
- 9780674980204
- 0674980204
- LCCN
- 2017042678
- 40028060314
- OCLC
- 1002829918
- Author
- Tobin, Vera, 1975- author.
- Title
- Elements of surprise : our mental limits and the satisfactions of plot / Vera Tobin.
- Publisher
- Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2018.
- Copyright Date
- ©2018
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-320) and index.
- Local Note
- AUTH: CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY.
- Other Standard Identifier
- 40028060314
- Research Call Number
- JFD 19-1539