Prosaics and Other Provocations Empathy, Open Time, and the Novel [Paperback]

This far-ranging study develops Morsons concept of prosaics, which stresses the importance of ordinary events and the novels unique ability to portray them. Arguing that time is open and contingency real, Morson develops a prosaics of process showing how some masterpieces have found an alternative to structure. His well-known pseudonym Alicia Chudo, the inventor of misanthropology, explores the disturbing philosophical content of laughter, disgust, and even empathy. Northwestern Universitys most popular professor, Morson attributes declining student interest in literature to current teaching methods. He argues in favor of showing how literature fosters empathy with people unlike ourselves. Ever playful, Morson explores the relation of games to wit, which expresses the power of the mind to triumph over contingency in the social world.Morsons provocations elevate sheer common sense to the level of non-absolutist metaphysics. His learning and wit would be a pleasure to encounter at any time, but they are particularly welcomeindeed, neededamidst the glum earnestness and hand-wringing now rife in the academic humanities. Prosaics, as it has evolved since Morsons early work on Tolstoy and Bakhtin, emerges as a pragmatic worldview. Here is a vision of the novel (and its potential consequences) capacious as the genre itself. Wise, funny, and beautifully written, this is a fine contribution to ethics and pedagogy, as well as the study of literature.Read this book. While it is inspired by (and offers brief but illuminating studies of) the masterworks of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, the volumes relevance greatly transcends Russian literature, indeed it offers a corrective to much (one is tempted to say all) thought, whether that includes technological or economic history, animal or language speciation, or deconstructing the Old Testament. . . . Readers who cherish various theories of literature or even science itself will find Morson a contentious, amusing, and al#