Research Catalog

Title

Kinesic humor : literature, embodied cognition, and the dynamics of gesture / Guillemette Bolens.

Author

Bolens, Guillemette

Publication

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

208 pages; 25 cm.

Summary

"Literature is one of the richest sources of information concerning the ways in which human beings are able to play with cognition. According to the theory of embodied cognition, human cognition is grounded in the ability to feel, perceive, and move (called sensorimotricity). The pervading cognitive process called perceptual simulation, which is activated when we cognitively process a gesture in a real-life situation, is also recruited when we read about actions, movements, and gestures in texts. Kinesic Humor examines literary works written by major authors-including Chrétien de Troyes, Cervantes, Milton, Saint-Simon, Rousseau, Sterne, and Stendhal-in which perceptual simulations of complex sensorimotor events and kinesic interactions trigger humorous effects. Such works create anticipations regarding movements and sensations, which are unexpectedly thwarted, thus producing cognitive shifts typical of humor. By bringing together literary studies, cognitive studies, gesture studies, and humor studies, this book offers original perspectives on such important artworks as Paradise Lost, Don Quixote, and Le Rouge et le Noir. In it, the importance of rhythm and tonicity in the perception of movements and gestures is a focus of attention. The interactional significance of gestures often lies in their dynamics, and this fact also applies to the cognitive retrieval of narrated gestures during the act of reading. The method of kinesic analysis practiced in this book takes into account such cognitive features in correlation with the historical and cultural contexts in which the literary works were written"--

Series Statement

Cognition and poetics series

Uniform Title

Cognition and poetics.

Subject

• Gesture in literature
• Cognition in literature
• Body language in literature
• Humor in literature

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Machine generated contents note: 1. Milton: Surprised By Humor -- 2. Sterne: The Naturalness Of A Toe Movement -- 3. Saint-Simon: Speed And Touch, Or How To Push A Duke -- 4. Rousseau: Fast Breathing And Trembling Hands -- 5. Stendhal: Walking Styles And Emotional Practice -- 6. Ovid And Chretien De Troyes: Pyramus, Thisbe, And Yvain's Hypersensitive Lion -- 7. Cervantes: Laughing At A Metaphor.

Call Number

JFE 21-8744

ISBN

• 9780190930066
• 0190930063

LCCN

2020058627

OCLC

1240264203

Author

Bolens, Guillemette, author.

Title

Kinesic humor : literature, embodied cognition, and the dynamics of gesture / Guillemette Bolens.

Publisher

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Cognition and poetics series

Cognition and poetics.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Form:

Online version: Bolens, Guillemette. Literature, embodied cognition, and the dynamics of gesture New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2021. 9780190930080 (DLC) 2020058628

Research Call Number

JFE 21-8744