Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction

Listen to an interview with Keith Oatley, author of ‘Such Stuff as Dreams - The Psychology of Fiction’, on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9532000/9532475.stm.  Professor Oatley addresses the question of whether reading fiction is good for you and affects your emotional intelligence.

'Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction' explores how fiction works in the brains and imagination of both readers and writers.

• Demonstrates how reading fiction can contribute to a greater understanding of, and the ability to change, ourselves
• Informed by the latest psychological research which focuses on, for example, how identification with fictional characters occurs, and how literature can improve social abilities
• Explores traditional aspects of fiction, including character, plot, setting, and theme, as well as a number of classic techniques, such as metaphor, metonymy, defamiliarization, and cues
• Includes extensive end-notes, which ground the work in psychological studies
• Features excerpts from fiction which are discussed throughout the text, including works by William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Kate Chopin, Anton Chekhov, James Baldwin, and others.