Angus Fletcher is a professor of story science at Ohio State's Project Narrative, the world's leading academic think-tank for the study of stories. He has dual degrees in neuroscience and literature, received his PhD from Yale, taught Shakespeare at Stanford, and has published two books and dozens of peer-reviewed academic articles on the scientific workings of novels, poetry, film, and theater. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He has done story-consulting for projects for Sony, Disney, the BBC, Amazon, PBS, and Universal and is the author/presenter of the Audible/Great Courses Guide to Screenwriting.
"I'm totally obsessed with Wonderworks. It swallowed me
whole."--Bren� Brown, Unlocking Us with Bren� Brown, Parcast
Network
"An intelligent, engaged and erudite attempt to neurologically
tackle not just some abstract and simplified 'story', but some of
the world's greatest narratives, from the Iliad to Dream of the Red
Chamber, from Disney's Up to the novels of Elena Ferrante. It
speaks to the inner reader in us all, as well as to the inner
neurologist."--Simon Ings "New Scientist"
"If you are interested in both writing and science this is an
unmissable book. . . . Fresh and inspiring."
--Brian Clegg "Popular Science"
"If Wonderworks had been around then, I would have sat my son down
and read Angus Fletcher's exploration of the history and the
psychology of literature to him, word by word. . . . I hope it will
convince others that there are benefits and pleasures that you can
get from literature that are unique and valuable."--Jane Smiley
"The Guardian"
"Wonderworks contains many instances of critical insight. . . .
What's most interesting about this compendium is its understanding
of imaginative representation as a technology."--Sophie Gee "The
New York Times"
"Readers will be impressed by Fletcher's scope and inclusion of
literary invention. Wonderworks is for those readers who like to
consider the history of literature, yes, but also those who like to
think about the technical aspects of literary devices used across
that history."-- "Library Journal"
"I've been living in Wonderworks for several weeks now, dazzled by
its innovations, wild surmises, gifts of insight, unlikely readings
and - perhaps most of all - its inspirational force. Angus Fletcher
is that rare critic who actually has something to say, who grabs us
by the collar and hopes to shake sense into us. This may be one of
the most important and truly useful books about literature written
in the past decade. It opens a vista into reading that regards
writing as a kind of continual experiment in human and societal
engineering. That Wonderworks deserves a wide audience goes without
saying. It's refreshing and remarkable on so many levels." --Jay
Parini, author of Borges and Me: An Encounter
"Wonderworks unleashes the transport, suspense, paradox, and power
of stories. All the ideas glossed--from Aristotle and Shakespeare
to contemporary neurosciences--exhibit the literary invention that
constitute the subject of the book, creating a tour-de-force of
knowledge, fantasy, and the desire to heal."--Rita Charon, MD, PhD,
Executive Director, Columbia Narrative Medicine, Columbia Vagelos
College of Physicians & Surgeons
"Aristotle's Poetics was new and brave but was left incomplete.
Angus Fletcher finishes it in Wonderworks with some help from
contemporary science and an abundance of penetrating analyses.
Fletcher endorses storytelling as a foundational technology but he
goes beyond that to illustrate its therapeutic value and centrality
to cultural invention. Wonderworks is the perfect counter to our
season in hell."--Antonio Damasio, author of The Strange Order of
Things: Life, Feeling and the Making of Cultures; Professor of
Neuroscience and Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute,
University of Southern California
"Extraordinary . . . Angus Fletcher has not only set out a radical
vision of literature as a technology that helps us, he has also
provided a wonderfully varied and generously introduced reading
list . . . Wonderworks brings inspiration, and an exciting
challenge, to read and to think hard about literature, and it's a
pleasure to read."--Raphael Lyne, Professor of Renaissance
Literature, Faculty of English, University of Cambridge; Fellow of
Murray Edwards College
"Find one polymath. Take a profound knowledge of world literature.
Add a deep knowledge of modern psychology and of neuroscience. Add
a cupful of worldly wisdom. Stir in an enchanting prose style. Heat
until bubbling. You have just baked a unique, marvelous treat:
Angus Fletcher's Wonderworks." --Martin Seligman, author of The
Hope Circuit and Learned Optimism; Professor of Psychology and
Director of the Positive Psychology Center, University of
Pennsylvania
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