Novel Sensations: Modernist Fiction and the Problem of Qualia

This book offers new readings of modernist authors and critiques neuroaesthetic approaches to literary criticism, proposing new ways of thinking about the relationship between philosophy, literature, and technology in the modernist period. It focuses on the work of four major authors and historicizes the qualia debate.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 17 May 2022
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Modernist literature has been a site of intense debate over the status of sensation, with various approaches and theories emerging to address this question. One such approach is the "neuroaesthetic approach," which seeks to understand the relationship between literature and the brain. This book offers novel and insightful readings of key modernist authors within their philosophical contexts, critiquing a range of "neuroaesthetic approaches to literary criticism" and proposing new ways of thinking about the relationship between philosophy, literature, and technology within modernist studies.

The book focuses on the work of four major modernist authors: Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, and Samuel Beckett. It examines the close links between modernist literature and the philosophy of mind, historicizing the qualia debate and situating it within its cultural and literary contexts. Through this examination, the book stages interventions into a range of academic debates, including over the status of "sensations and "sense data within modernist fiction, over the scope and possibility of "neuroaesthetic approaches to literary criticism, and over the relationship between literature, philosophy, and technology in the modernist moment.

One of the key arguments of the book is that modernist literature is deeply intertwined with the philosophy of mind. The authors of modernist literature were deeply interested in the nature of consciousness and the relationship between the mind and the world. They sought to explore the limits of human perception and the ways in which literature can capture the complexities of the human experience.

The book argues that the "neuroaesthetic approach" is limited in its ability to understand the relationship between literature and the brain. It suggests that the qualia debate, which focuses on the nature of subjective experience, is not sufficient to explain the relationship between literature and the brain. Instead, the book proposes a more comprehensive approach that takes into account the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which literature is produced and consumed.

The book also explores the relationship between literature, philosophy, and technology in the modernist moment. It argues that modernist literature was shaped by the technological advances of the time, including the rise of the printing press, the development of cinema, and the emergence of new forms of communication. These technological advances had a profound impact on the way that literature was written, read, and interpreted, and they played a significant role in the development of modernist aesthetics.

However, the book also notes that the relationship between literature, philosophy, and technology in the modernist moment was not always positive. Some modernist authors were critical of the technological advances of the time, arguing that they were dehumanizing and that they were leading to a loss of human connection. Others saw the technological advances as a means of expanding the possibilities of literature and of creating new forms of expression.

The book concludes by proposing a new way of thinking about the relationship between philosophy, literature, and technology in the modernist moment. It suggests that we need to approach literature and the brain in a more holistic and interdisciplinary way, taking into account the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which literature is produced and consumed. It also suggests that we need to be more critical of the "neuroaesthetic approach" and to explore new ways of thinking about the relationship between literature and the brain.

In conclusion, this book offers novel and insightful readings of key modernist authors within their philosophical contexts, critiquing a range of "neuroaesthetic approaches to literary criticism" and proposing new ways of thinking about the relationship between philosophy, literature, and technology within modernist studies. By historicizing the qualia debate and situating it within its cultural and literary contexts, the book stages interventions into a range of academic debates, including over the status of "sensations and "sense data within modernist fiction, over the scope and possibility of "neuroaesthetic approaches to literary criticism, and over the relationship between literature, philosophy, and technology in the modernist moment.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474458405