Prospects and Limitations of Cognitive Narratology: A Case Study of Mind Representation

Abstract

Abstract: The key concepts of narratological cognitivism, mind reading and theory of mind, carry the characteristics of “hypothesis” and “supposition”. They are effective in the analysis of the relationship between narration and consciousness. However, from the very beginning of its development, cognitive narratology reveals two limitations, one is the tendency to equate fictional minds with real minds and the other is the focus on character with the events subordinating to the character in text analysis. Therefore, it is suggested that “Novel reading is mind reading” should be accurately presented as “Novel reading is mental event reading”.

Key words: cognitive narratology, mind representation, mind reading, theory of mind.

CLC Number:

Wolf Schmid,Chen Fang. Prospects and Limitations of Cognitive Narratology: A Case Study of Mind Representation[J]. JOURNAL OF QUJING NORMAL UNIVERSITY, 2017, 36(2): 35-40.

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