Morson, Gary Saul,

Prosaics and Other Provocations : Empathy, Open Time, and the Novel / Gary Saul Morson. - Boston, MA : Academic Studies Press, [2017] ©2013 - 1 online resource (300 p.) - Ars Rossica .

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface / Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part One. Overture -- Chapter One. What Is Prosaics? -- Part Two. What Is Open Time? -- Chapter Two. Narrativeness -- Chapter Three. The Prosaics of Process -- Part Three. What Is Misanthropology? -- Chapter Four. Misanthropology: Voyeurism and Human Nature / Chapter Five. Misanthropology, Continued: Disgust, Violence, and More on Voyeurism / Chapter Six. Misanthropology in Verse: An Onegin of Our Times / Part Four. What Is Literary Education? -- Chapter Seven: Novelistic Empathy, and How to Teach It -- Part Five. What Is Wit? -- Chapter Eight: Contingency, Games, and Wit -- Index Bethea, David M. -- Chudo, Alicia -- Chudo, Alicia -- Chudo, Alicia --

Open Access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2

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.


Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.


This eBook is made available Open Access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license:


In English.

9781618116758

10.1515/9781618116758 doi


Empathy in literature--History and criticism.
Events (Philosophy) in literature--History and criticism.
Fiction--History and criticism.
Prose literature--History and criticism--Theory, etc.
LITERARY CRITICISM / Russian & Former Soviet Union.