Team taught with Dominique Jullien (French & Comparative Literature)

Course Summary

Cognitive neuroscience has long recognized narrative as a basic organizing principle of our minds. Storytelling is often how we make sense of the world and the most powerful fictions of world literature are ones that deepen the understanding of our experiences. This course gives a grounding in the world literary classics in the context of some of the more significant developments in cognitive neuroscience, covering such topics as consciousness, rationality, memory, trauma, addiction, emotion and gender. By reading an array of great texts of world literature through a cognitive lens, from the 1001 Nights to 1984, the course provides a new perspective on the world literary landscape and offers enduring patterns of meaning to bring to our everyday lives.

NB: For matters relating to registration, please contact the Undergraduate Advisor directly