Shakespearean Neuroplay: Reinvigorating the Study of Dramatic Texts and Performance through Cognitive Science

by A. Cook

Overview

Using Shakespeare's Hamlet as a test subject and cognitive linguistic theory of conceptual blending as a tool, Cook unravels the 'mirror held up to nature' at the center of Shakespeare's play and provides a methodology for applying cognitive science to the study of drama.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230105478
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	10/15/2010
Series:	Cognitive Studies in Literature and Performance
Edition description:	2010
Pages:	205
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

AMY COOK is Assistant Professor of Theatre and History, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgments xi

1 Who's There? 1

Stand and Unfold Yourself 3

Rivals of My Watch 14

Minutes of This Night 20

2 Linguistic Synaesthesia 23

Half Cents 27

Cunning of the Seen 30

Her Speech Is Nothing 36

3 Mirror | Mirror; Mirror | rorriM 43

The Critical Mirror 45

The Rear-View Mirror 48

The Mirror Blend 57

4 Meaning Superflux-A Cognitive Linguistic Reading of Hamlet 65

Hand and Soul 69

Enactures 77

Hamlet's an Old Minnow 84

5 Play's the Thing-A Cognitive Linguistic Performance Analysis 91

Inexplicable Dumb Shows on an Unworthy Scaffold 92

Casting-to out-Herod Herod 105

Gesture and Performance-"tweaks me by th' nose" 112

6 Past/Future, Microscope/Telescope, Performance/Science 123

An Eye of You 125

Surpassing Show 138

The Inmost Part 141

Conclusion: A Dying Voice 149

A Rhapsody of Words 150

An Eye of View 154

Notes 159

Index 197

Editorial Reviews

'Cogent, well-researched, and well-written a heartfelt and compelling argument for the importance of a harmonization of art and science on both sides of the disciplinary divide.' Theatre Survey

"A rare book that adds new dimensions to our understanding of theatre, literature, and the human mind. Cook's remarkably original approach offers deep insights presented with striking clarity and elegance." - Gilles Fauconnier, Distinguished Research Professor of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, USA

"Shakespearean Neuroplay is an important contribution to theatre and performance studies. Rigorously engaging current cognitive studies, Cook offers nuanced and sometimes surprising insights into Shakespeare (particularly Hamlet) that are of use not only to scholars, but also to directors and actors. Integrating cognitive linguistics, literary studies, performance theory, theatre history, and Shakespeare studies, Cook's approach to Shakespeare provides a rich meditation on how our minds work in relationship to language, imagery, and embodiment, and how, on the most basic human level, we understand and experience theatre." - Rhonda Blair, Professor of Theatre, Southern Methodist University, USA and President of the American Society for Theatre Research

"This is a startlingly original and courageous exploration of cognitive blending theory and its usefulness for understanding the epistemological complexities of Shakespeare's Hamlet, in both text and performance. Cook offers a comprehensive reading of Hamlet's resonant mirror metaphor that extends the traditional rhetorics common to both literary criticism and theatre studies toward the cognitive-linguistic dynamics underlying both. Utilizing Cook's rare combination of experience in theatrical production, her expertise in Shakespeare studies, and her ground-up familiarity with the emerging field of cognitive performance theory, this study vigorously participates in ongoing reconfigurations across the disciplines that are now enabled perhaps even necessitated by embodiment studies in the humanities." - F. Elizabeth Hart, Associate Professor of English, University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA and co-editor of Performance and Cognition

From the Publisher