E-book
Useful fictions [electronic resource] : evolution, anxiety, and the origins of literature / Michael Austin.
"We tell ourselves stories in order to live," Joan Didion observed in The White Album. Why is this? Michael Austin asks, in Useful Fictions. Why, in particular, are human beings, whose very survival depends on obtaining true information, so drawn to fictional narratives? After all, virtually every human culture reveres some form of storytelling. Might there be an evolutionary reason behind our species' need for stories?
Record details
- ISBN: 0803232977 (electronic bk.)
- ISBN: 9780803232976 (electronic bk.)
- Physical Description: 1 online resource (xvii, 171 p.) : ill.
- Publisher: Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, c2010.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | OldControl:muse9780803232976 Multi-User. CatMonthString:jan.13 Multi-User CatBulkString:jan.03.13 |
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | Scheherazade's stories and Pangloss's nose -- Stories for thinking -- The influence of anxiety -- Information anxiety -- The problem of other people -- Sex, lies, and phenotypes -- Deceiving ourselves and others. |
| Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Note: | Access restricted by subscription. Access requires VIU IP addresses and is restricted to VIU students, faculty and staff. |
| Source of Description Note: | Description based on print version record. |
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| Genre: | Electronic books. Electronic books. |
