Overview

Full Product Details

Author:   Natalie M. Phillips (Michigan State University)
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.544kg
ISBN:  

9781421420127

ISBN 10:   1421420120
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   08 November 2016
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

"Preface Introduction. The Literary History of Distraction The Unifocal and the Multifocal The Rise of the Distracted CharacterAttention, Distraction, and Enlightenment Philosophy of MindA Swiftly Tilting MadnessCategorizing Distraction 1. Mind Wandering: Forms of Distraction in the Eighteenth-Century EssayDistraction and the Eighteenth-Century Essay The Rhetoric of Attention: Appealing to Pathos and Brevitas The Essay as a Tool of Focus Training Attention to Attention Strengthening Focus: Repetition and Dramatic Irony Economies of Attention The History of Attention Span 2. Lapses of Concentration: Distracted Vigilance and the Female MindEnvironment and Mind: Urban Diversion and the Distracted Brain The Problem of a Soft Female Mind Sex, Environment, and the Multifocal Coquette The Challenges of Situational Awareness Philosophizing Multiplicity: Cognitive Bottlenecks and Sorting Gloves Strained Omniscience and the Distracted Heroine The Crowded Syntax of Sexual Inattention ""Might as Well Be Passed Over as Read:"" Indulging the Diverted Reader 3. Scattered Attention: Distraction and the Rhythm of Cognitive Overload Rhythms of Narrative, Rhythms of Mind The Scattered Rhythms of Cognitive Overload Susannah and the Vexed Situation of Madam Reader The Anatomy of Parallel Processing The Sermon: Asynchronous Rhythms of Prose Hobbyhorses and the Individual Beat of Interest Irregular Distraction: The Tempo of Cognitive Overload Rhythms of the Brain: Creativity and the Timing of Distraction 4. Fixated Attention: The Gothic Pathology of Single-Minded FocusMicroscope and Mind Scientific Metaphors and the Madness of Attention The Politics and Poetics of Fixation Involuntary Attention: A Multifocal Selective Blindness Sympathy and the Benefits of Distraction Rewriting Suspense: Interruption and the Gothic Sublime Fixation and the Science of Obsession 5. Divided Attention: Characterization and Cognitive Richness in Jane Austen The Power of Multitasking in Pride and Prejudice The Singular Importance of Inattentive Characters Mr. Hurst: The Limited Capacity of the Undivided Mind Mrs. Jenkinson: Narrow Bandwidth and the Creation of Depth Lydia and Miss Bingley: Caricaturing Cognitive Vacancy The Dangers of Too Much Attention Distraction as Liveliness of Mind Mary Bennet: Hyperfocus and Cognitive Immobility Lady Catherine de Bourgh: The Problem of Excess Vigilance Elizabeth Bennet: The Benefits of Diversion Characterizing Reading: Maps of Distraction and Interest Coda: History of Mind and Literary Neuroscience Interdisciplinarity: From Theory to Practice Literary Attention: An fMRI Study of Reading Jane Austen The Value of Literary History NotesBibliographyIndex"

Reviews

Thoroughly informed by engagement with 17th- and 18th-century philosophies of mind, the book is also impressive for its periodic forays into modern cognitive science... Distraction is an important addition to the literature on 18th-century fiction and cognition. Highly recommended. * Choice * It reads... as a manifesto for the possibility of a kind of research in which disciplines are combined not in the sense of serving each other, or borrowing from each other, but in true synergy. From all the aspects of Phillips's book that are commendable - and there are many from its originality and clarity of argumentation through to its powers of interpretation - this is the most significant. Literature and science are on an equal footing here and the fruits of their combination are remarkable. * British Society for Literature and Science *

Thoroughly informed by engagement with 17th- and 18th-century philosophies of mind, the book is also impressive for its periodic forays into modern cognitive science... Distraction is an important addition to the literature on 18th-century fiction and cognition. Highly recommended. Choice

Author Information

Natalie M. Phillips is an assistant professor of English at Michigan State University, where she is an affiliated faculty member of the cognitive science program and the cofounder of the Digital Humanities & Literary Cognition Lab.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions