Metaphors open up our minds – but can also shut them down Because I recently wrote a post extolling the beauty of metaphors as novel titles, this article caught my eye. There are always at least two sides to every story, and here’s another side to the story of metaphors. In this article neuroscientist Claire O’Callaghan […]
For the first installment of this undertaking, I focus on this post from May 29, 2010: Fictive Worlds and Real Brains: The Psychology of Reading This extended discussion of several articles I had read online is from the year before I received my doctorate in psychology. One of the areas I studied was the psychology
15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin Read More »
Earlier today, the 2025 Pulitzer Prizes were announced and Percival Everett’s James was declared the winner for fiction. (You can see all of the winners and finalists here.) This came as no s… Source: Did the Pulitzer Board just overrule the Jury to give Percival Everett the prize? ‹ Literary Hub I’m guessing this will
The Extreme Life and Philosophy of Hunter S. Thompson: Gonzo Journalism and the American Condition A short introduction, with lots of related links, to the life and work of Hunter S. Thompson, commonly known as the father of “gonzo journalism”: Gonzo journalism . . . actually has a serious question to ask: “Are not the
A historical novel longlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize, Rapture by Emily Maguire, begins our chain this month. Set in the ninth century, Rapture tells the story of “a wild and brilliant girl with a deep, visceral love of God,” according to Goodreads. “At eighteen, to avoid a future as a wife or nun, Agnes
6 Degrees of Separation: From Rapture to the Woods Read More »
On Reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses As a Military Spouse If you’ve forgotten, or if you didn’t know in the first place, I was a classics major (B.A. and M.A. in Latin), and that explains why I’m always drawn to any article whose author expresses love for any aspect of this area of study. Here Jehanne Dubrow
Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature Read More »
Power and Punishment: Using the Language of Fantasy to Subvert Real-Life Oppression Power lies at the heart of all fantasy, written or imagined. To craft a novel of the genre is to visualize an expression of power and assign it to factions that will then weave and warp over the course of the story. Yet,
Science fiction may help foster a sense of global solidarity by evoking awe, study finds New research suggests that regularly engaging with science fiction—whether through films, books, or other media—can help people feel a stronger connection to humanity as a whole. The researchers found that science fiction’s ability to evoke awe, a powerful emotion triggered
Reviewing The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight got me thinking about the use of metaphors as novel titles. Metaphor is the use of indirect comparison to describe or define something else: metaphor —Source: Oxford English Dictionary Metaphors associate two things or concepts without the use of like or as. (Comparisons that
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The Novel I’m Searching For “Five years after the pandemic, I’m holding out for a story that doesn’t just describe our experience, but transforms it.” Novelist Lily Meyer, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, writes that early literature about the COVID-19 pandemic aimed at giving people a sense of control by mentioning details of how
