First-person and second-generation perspectives on starvation in Franz Kafka's 'Ein Hungerkünstler'

<p>An important claim made for second-generation accounts of cognition is that they help solve the problem of dualism, which arguably remains unchallenged in much literary criticism. Kafka's short story “Ein Hungerkunstler” (A Hunger Artist) is about a profoundly embodied experience of (u...

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Main Author: Troscianko, E
Format: Journal article
Published: Pennsylvania State University 2014
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author Troscianko, E
author_facet Troscianko, E
author_sort Troscianko, E
collection OXFORD
description <p>An important claim made for second-generation accounts of cognition is that they help solve the problem of dualism, which arguably remains unchallenged in much literary criticism. Kafka's short story “Ein Hungerkunstler” (A Hunger Artist) is about a profoundly embodied experience of (unsuccessfully) denying embodiment: fasting to death. With this text's cognitive realism as my focal point, I use insights from second-generation cognitive science (which acknowledges the embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended nature of human cognition), including research on eating disorders and starvation, to provide purchase on two traditional literary-critical concerns: thematic interpretation and paradox. I also suggest that a first-person perspective which acknowledges the complexities of individual real-world embodiment may sometimes enrich cognitive literary studies. This combined first-person and second-generation methodology can help us recognize that for the real people who read our scholarship and learn from us, the dangers of dualism are ethically as well as interpretively profound.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:e73150a4-7b19-441d-ba7b-57ed1b5dff6d2022-03-27T10:36:43ZFirst-person and second-generation perspectives on starvation in Franz Kafka's 'Ein Hungerkünstler'Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:e73150a4-7b19-441d-ba7b-57ed1b5dff6dSymplectic Elements at OxfordPennsylvania State University2014Troscianko, E<p>An important claim made for second-generation accounts of cognition is that they help solve the problem of dualism, which arguably remains unchallenged in much literary criticism. Kafka's short story “Ein Hungerkunstler” (A Hunger Artist) is about a profoundly embodied experience of (unsuccessfully) denying embodiment: fasting to death. With this text's cognitive realism as my focal point, I use insights from second-generation cognitive science (which acknowledges the embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended nature of human cognition), including research on eating disorders and starvation, to provide purchase on two traditional literary-critical concerns: thematic interpretation and paradox. I also suggest that a first-person perspective which acknowledges the complexities of individual real-world embodiment may sometimes enrich cognitive literary studies. This combined first-person and second-generation methodology can help us recognize that for the real people who read our scholarship and learn from us, the dangers of dualism are ethically as well as interpretively profound.</p>
spellingShingle Troscianko, E
First-person and second-generation perspectives on starvation in Franz Kafka's 'Ein Hungerkünstler'
title First-person and second-generation perspectives on starvation in Franz Kafka's 'Ein Hungerkünstler'
title_full First-person and second-generation perspectives on starvation in Franz Kafka's 'Ein Hungerkünstler'
title_fullStr First-person and second-generation perspectives on starvation in Franz Kafka's 'Ein Hungerkünstler'
title_full_unstemmed First-person and second-generation perspectives on starvation in Franz Kafka's 'Ein Hungerkünstler'
title_short First-person and second-generation perspectives on starvation in Franz Kafka's 'Ein Hungerkünstler'
title_sort first person and second generation perspectives on starvation in franz kafka s ein hungerkunstler
work_keys_str_mv AT trosciankoe firstpersonandsecondgenerationperspectivesonstarvationinfranzkafkaseinhungerkunstler