Human minds and animal stories : how narratives make us care about other species /

Małecki, Wojciech (Professor of literary theory),

Human minds and animal stories : how narratives make us care about other species / Wojciech Malecki, Piotr Sorokowski, Boguslaw Pawlowski, and Marcin Cienski. - 1 online resource. - Routledge studies in world literatures and the environment . - Routledge studies in world literatures and the environment. .

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Texts, statistics, and deception: on our investigative method -- A monkey, a book, and Facebook, or how to catch a story in the act -- Does it matter if it is true? on slaughterhouses, fiction, and non-fiction -- Does it matter how it is told? on species, stylistics, and voices -- Does it matter who it is about? on chimpanzees, lizards, and other main characters -- How does it work? from readerly pleasure to animal cruelty -- How long will it work? a short chapter on attitudinal impact over time -- Conclusions, speculations, and prospects -- Appendices.

The power of stories to raise our concern for animals has been postulated throughout history by countless scholars, activists, and writers, including such greats as Thomas Hardy and Leo Tolstoy. This is the first book to investigate that power and explain the psychological and cultural mechanisms behind it. It does so by presenting the results of an experimental project that involved thousands of participants, texts representing various genres and national literatures, and the cooperation of an internationally-acclaimed bestselling author. Combining psychological research with insights from animal studies, ecocriticism and other fields in the environmental humanities, the book not only provides evidence that animal stories can make us care for other species, but also shows that their effects are more complex and fascinating than we have ever thought. In this way, the book makes a groundbreaking contribution to the study of relations between literature and the nonhuman world as well as to the study of how literature changes our minds and society. "As witnessed by novels like Black Beauty and Uncle Tom's Cabin, a good story can move public opinion on contentious social issues. In Human Minds and Animal Stories a team of specialists in psychology, biology, and literature tells how they discovered the power of narratives to shift our views about the treatment of other species. Beautifully written and based on dozens of experiments with thousands of subjects, this book will appeal to animal advocates, researchers, and general readers looking for a compelling real-life detective story." - Hal Herzog, author of Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat : Why It's So Hard To Think Straight About Animals

9780429061424 0429061420 9780429590054 0429590059 9780429591990 0429591993 9780429588112 0429588119

10.4324/9780429061424 doi

9780429590054 Ingram Content Group

2019014564

GBB930552 bnb

019252681 Uk


Human-animal relationships.
Interdisciplinary research.
Human-animal relationships in literature.
Animals in literature.
PHILOSOPHY / Epistemology.
Animals.
Knowledge, Theory of.
Other minds (Theory of knowledge)
LITERARY COLLECTIONS / General


Electronic books.

QL85

304.2/7