What Literature Teaches Us about Emotion

Patrick Colm Hogan is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Connecticut. He is also on the faculty of the Cognitive Science Program, the Program in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies and the India Studies Program. He is the author of thirteen books, including The Mind and its Stories: Narrative Universals and Human Emotion (Cambridge University Press, 2003), hailed by Steven Pinker of Harvard University as 'a landmark in modern intellectual life', and the editor or co-editor of four books, including The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences.

“Literature offers a veritable treasure trove of wisdom and insights about the nature and manifestations of human emotions, yet emotion researchers have been slow to explore this exciting domain. This book represents a groundbreaking attempt to bridge the gap between scientific research and complementary literary insights on emotions. The chapters explore in considerable detail such core emotions as love, guilt, mirth, shame, and compassion, drawing on the work of such literary giants as Shakespeare. The author takes us on an exhilarating journey of discovery of the subtleties, structure, and functions of human emotions using an ingenious approach fusing art and science. This book will be warmly welcomed by all researchers, teachers, students, and professionals interested in understanding emotions, and will be enjoyed by everyone who is fascinated by the intricacies of human emotionality.” --Joseph P. Forgas, University of New South Wales

• Introduction: studying literature, studying emotion; 1. Fictions and feelings: on the place of literature in the study of emotion; 2. What emotions are; 3. Romantic love: Sappho, Li Ch'ing-Chao, and Romeo and Juliet; 4. Grief: Kobayashi Issa and Hamlet; 5. Mirth: from Chinese jokes to A Comedy of Errors; 6. Guilt, shame, jealousy: The Strong Breed, Macbeth, Kagekiyo, and Othello; 7. From attachment to ethical feeling: Rabindranath Tagore and Measure for Measure; 8. Compassion and pity: The Tempest and Une Tempête; Afterword: studying literature shaping emotion: Madame Bovary and the sublime.