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Elements of Surprise - Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R888
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Elements of Surprise - Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot (Hardcover)
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Why do some surprises delight-the endings of Agatha Christie
novels, films like The Sixth Sense, the flash awareness that Pip's
benefactor is not (and never was!) Miss Havisham? Writing at the
intersection of cognitive science and narrative pleasure, Vera
Tobin explains how our brains conspire with stories to produce
those revelatory plots that define a "well-made surprise." By
tracing the prevalence of surprise endings in both literary fiction
and popular literature and showing how they exploit our mental
limits, Tobin upends two common beliefs. The first is cognitive
science's tendency to consider biases a form of moral weakness and
failure. The second is certain critics' presumption that surprise
endings are mere shallow gimmicks. The latter is simply not true,
and the former tells at best half the story. Tobin shows that
building a good plot twist is a complex art that reflects a
sophisticated understanding of the human mind. Reading classic,
popular, and obscure literature alongside the latest research in
cognitive science, Tobin argues that a good surprise works by
taking advantage of our mental limits. Elements of Surprise
describes how cognitive biases, mental shortcuts, and quirks of
memory conspire with stories to produce wondrous illusions, and
also provides a sophisticated how-to guide for writers. In Tobin's
hands, the interactions of plot and cognition reveal the
interdependencies of surprise, sympathy, and sense-making. The
result is a new appreciation of the pleasures of being had.
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