Jonah Lehrer, “The Neuronovel”
(from The Frontal Cortex: http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2009/10/the_neuronovel.php)
Instead, Roth argues that the new neuronovel subscribes to a cheap oversimplification of reality,
in which "the proximate causes of mental function [are explained] in terms of neurochemistry,
and ultimate causes in terms of evolution and heredity." The end result, Roth suggests, is "that
the new genre of the neuronovel, which looks on the face of it to expand the writ of literature,
appears as another sign of the novel's diminishing purview."
It's a perceptive and provocative essay, but I don't buy it. For one thing, Roth fails to place the
new "neuronovel" in its proper historical context. There is nothing new or trendy about novelists
borrowing the language and theories of contemporary science, or even indulging in
reductionism and determinism when it suits their aesthetic principles. Consider Emile Zola, the
proud founder of naturalism who aspired to write "the scientific novel." The novelist, Zola
declared, must literally become a scientist, "employing the experimental method in their study
of man." Unfortunately, this led Zola to proclaim his blind faith in heredity and biological
determinism. As he wrote in his preface to Therese Raquin, "I have chosen people completely
dominated by their nerves and blood, without free will, drawn to each action by the inexorable
laws of their physical nature." Of course, Zola's theories are now woefully obsolete. As Oscar
Wilde declared, "Zola sits down to give us a picture of the Second Empire. Who cares for the
Second Empire now? It is out of date. Life goes faster than Realism."
Jonah Lehrer, “The Neuronovel”
(from The Frontal Cortex: http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2009/10/the_neuronovel.php)
The point is that the "reductionism" and "chemical determinism" that have supposedly been
embraced by 21st century neuronovelists is both 1) not new and 2) far more subtle and nuanced
than the reductionism and determinism celebrated by many 19th century realists. There's a long
and rich history of fiction interacting with the latest scientific facts, and I think it's important to
understand the neuronovel in this context. George Eliot famously described her novels as a "a
set of experiments in life." (She was particularly interested in contesting the ideas of "social
physics," the determinism of her day.) Virginia Woolf, before she wrote Mrs. Dalloway, said that
in her new novel the "psychology should be done very realistically." Gertrude Stein did research
on automatic writing with William James, before doing research in a neuroanatomy lab at Johns
Hopkins. Whitman worked in Civil War hospitals and corresponded for years with the
neurologist who discovered phantom limb syndrome. (He also kept up with phrenology, the
brain science of his day.) Or look at Coleridge. When the poet was asked why he attended so
many lectures on chemistry, he gave a great answer: "To improve my stock of metaphors". In
other words, this dialogue between contemporary art and contemporary science isn't some
newfangled idea, or some 21st century publishing trend designed to sell books. Rather, it's part
of a distinguished attempt to grapple with the implications of scientific theory, to understand
how our new facts fit with our experience.
1. How, precisely, do Roth and Pitts-Taylor
establish motive?
2. How would you describe each writer’s stance?
3. Find a claim you agree with or find intriguing
and one you disagree with or would revise.
4. What about the writer’s methods might you
adopt for yourself? What would you do
differently?
5. What critic(s) do you think of as role models
for your won writing? Why?
For Next Week
1. Come in prepared to discuss your seminar project.
2. How will establish motive (see Harvey)? What critical or
intellectual conversations or contexts will you engage?
3. How would you describe your stance (Harvey again), in
relation to some of the following: neurocogntive
approaches to literature; cognitive science, neuroscience,
psychology, or psychoanalysis; particular trends or strains
in the literary representation of consciousness; the
philosophy of mind; contemporary “neuro-novels” or
“brain memoirs.”
4. What are some of your goals? What challenges do you
anticipate? What do you have questions or want advice
about?