E-book
Useful fictions : 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
- ISBN: 9780803232976
- ISBN: 9786613050816
- ISBN: 6613050814
- Physical Description: 1 online resource (xvii, 171 pages) : illustrations
- Publisher: Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, ©2010.
Content descriptions
| 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. |
| Language Note: | English. |
| Source of Description Note: | Print version record. |
Search for related items by subject
| Genre: | Electronic books. Electronic books. Criticism, interpretation, etc. |
