Disrupted Intersubjectivity: Paralysis and Invasion in Ian McEwan’s Works

Andrei Ionescu

may 2020 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Acerca de este libro electrónico

Disrupted Intersubjectivity investigates two classes of phenomena creating failures of understanding in social interaction, referred to as 'paralysis' and 'invasion.' Both can be understood as disrupted forms of intersubjectivity, the former being characterized by a lack/deficiency of ways of relating to others, and the latter by an unnecessary surplus. By studying the literary accounts of these phenomena in a selection of Ian McEwan's literary works (“Homemade,” On Chesil Beach, Enduring Love, and Atonement), Andrei Ionescu sheds light on the epistemological potential of literature and the structure of human relationships in general.

Part of the developing field of cognitive literary studies, Disrupted Intersubjectivity not only uses cognitive scientific theories in order to clarify literary issues, but also investigates to what extent can literature itself contribute to the process of understanding the workings of the human mind. By investigating the metacognitive issues staged and reflected upon in literary works, Ionescu challenges and refines contemporary cognitive and philosophical approaches to intersubjectivity and opens directions for further theoretical and empirical research.

Acerca del autor

Andrei Ionescu is a Staff Writer at Earth: Nature, Science, Life (www.earth.com). He holds a PhD from the University of Padua, Italy, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Bucharest, Romania, Ghent University, Belgium, and Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia. Ionescu's areas of research include cognitive and medical humanities, posthumanism, animal studies, and ecocriticism.