The cognitive turn

Abstract

Corresponding to the “narrative turn” in the human and cultural sciences, this paper advocates a “cognitive turn” in the study of literary narratives. The representation of the self in literary narratives, for example, is in some ways similar to the representation of the self represented in philosophic, psychological, and sociological theory, but the narrative models extend and enrich the understanding of the self. The tradition of literary narrative includes the monadic, dyadic, and triadic models of the self, as well as representations of agent, patient, experiencer, witness, instrumental, and locative selves. Narrative is thus a kind of worldmaking, and the making of complex worlds, such as the worlds of the self, lead towards narrative.