Gospel according to Pullman : the influence of fantastic literature on the development of empathy and mentalization

Vol.25,No.1(2022)

Zuzana Zoubková

https://doi.org/10.5817/BL2022-1-4

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/145177

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Abstract
The aim of this paper is to find out how reading of literary fiction affects the reader's cognitive and affective abilities, especially their ability to empathize and mentalize. It is based on the findings of contemporary cognitive science and follows the ideas of Marek Oziewicz and Maria Nikolajeva, who are not well-known in the Czech environment. They claim that fantastic literature is more cognitively-stimulating than mimetic literature, as interpretation of fictional worlds leads to more demanding mental experiments. A novel trilogy His Dark Materials (1995–2005) by British writer Philip Pullman is used to demonstrate the theses of both researchers. Its interpretation places high demands on the reader and requires considerable cognitive effort. The reader gets acquainted with a fantastic fictional world where abstract concepts such as soul, faith or knowledge are materialized into concrete forms. Results of the analysis of the trilogy support general claims of cognitive literary science that reading of literary fiction advances the theory of mind, and that fantasy can be even more beneficial in that regard.

Keywords:
Philip Pullman; His Dark Materials; fantastic literature; mimetic literature; fiction; poetic faith; theory of mind; mentalization; empathy; mirror neurons; belief; cognition; cognitive competencies; ethics; guilt

Pages:
55–75
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