The physiology of the novel : reading, neural science, and the form of Victorian fiction
How did the Victorians read novels? The author answers that deceptively simple question by revealing a now-forgotten range of 19th century theories of the novel, based in a study of human physiology during the act of reading
Criticism, interpretation, etc
vii, 277 pages : illustrations, music ; 25 cm
9780199208968, 0199208964
123374277
Introduction: Toward a History of Victorian Novel Theory
I. Theories of Reading: a Critical Prehistory
1. Mass Reading and Physiological Novel Theory
I I. Practices of Reading: Four Cases
2. Distraction's Negative Liberty: Thackeray and Attention
(Intermittent Form)
3. Melodies for the Forgetful: Eliot, Wagner, and Duration
(Elongated Form)
4. Just Noticeable Differences: Meredith and Fragmentation
(Discontinuous Form)
5. The Eye as Motor: Gissing and Speed-Reading (Accelerated Form)
Coda: I. A. Richards and the End of Physiological Novel Theory
Bibliography
Index