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March 18, 2009
Psychology and Fiction
The theory involving the use of psychology within literary criticism is made clear within Bernard Paris's essay The Uses of Psychology. He points out that the best way to use this type of criticism is to investigate the minds of both the author and the main character. I agree with Paris's notion that regardless of the plot of a novel, through psychology we are awarded a definitive view of the world or of an experience simply by the interpretation of what the author does within the text. Paris suggest that authors and psychologists are often educated in many of the same fields and thus, have a profound connection within each others works. My feelng is that a work may not necessarily represent an author's precise feelings, ecspecially in terms of a piece of fiction, however, through psychological criticism we can understand more fully certain aspects of an author and can therefore better grasp the work itself. As Paris concludes: "Fiction lets us know what it is like to be a certain kind of person with a certain kind of destiny."
Posted by QuinnKerno at March 18, 2009 7:33 PM
Comments
I really like this entry Quinn. The wuote you picked was also a good one. The fact that we can, in a round about way, know what it is like to be someone else. I love who I am but I also know that I'm not the center of the universe (contrary to popular belief :) ). I like to know what it would be like to not be me and looking at a text mimetically allows me to do that.
Posted by: Angela Palumbo at April 3, 2009 12:10 AM