Prosaics and Other Provocations: Empathy, Open Time, and the Novel

This far-ranging study develops Morson's concept of "prosaics," which stresses the importance of ordinary events and the novel's unique ability to portray them. Arguing that time is open and contingency real, Morson develops a "prosaics of process" showing how some masterpieces have found an alternative to structure. His well-known pseudonym Alicia Chudo, the inventor of "misanthropology," explores the disturbing philosophical content of laughter, disgust, and even empathy. Northwestern University's most popular professor, Morson attributes declining student interest in literature to current teaching methods. He argues in favor of showing how literature fosters empathy with people unlike ourselves. Ever playful, Morson explores the relation of games to wit, which expresses the power of the mind to triumph over contingency in the social world.

Author: Gary Saul Morson
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Published: 05/30/2018
Pages: 300
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.93lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.63d
ISBN13: 9781618118097
ISBN10: 1618118099
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Russian & Former Soviet Union
- Literary Criticism | Semiotics & Theory
- Literary Criticism | Books & Reading

About the Author
Gary Saul Morson (PhD Yale University) is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Frances Hooper Professor of the Arts and Humanities at Northwestern University. His study Narrative and Freedom: The Shadows of Time (1996) won a best book award from the American Comparative Literature Association. He is also the author of Mikhail Bakhtin: Creation of a Prosaics (co-authored with Caryl Emerson, 1990), Anna Karenina in Our Time: Seeing More Wisely (2007), and The Words of Others: From Quotations to Culture (2011).