{"product_id":"useful-fictions-evolution-anxiety-and-the-origins-of-literature-9780803230262","title":"Useful Fictions: Evolution, Anxiety, and the Origins of Literature","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"We tell ourselves stories in order to live,\" Joan Didion observed in \u003cem\u003eThe White Album\u003c\/em\u003e. Why is this? Michael Austin asks, in \u003cem\u003eUseful Fictions\u003c\/em\u003e. Why, in particular, are human beings, whose very survival depends on obtaining true information, so drawn to fictional narratives? After all, virtually every human culture reveres some form of storytelling. Might there be an evolutionary reason behind our species' need for stories? Drawing on evolutionary biology, anthropology, narrative theory, cognitive psychology, game theory, and evolutionary aesthetics, Austin develops the concept of a \"useful fiction,\" a simple narrative that serves an adaptive function unrelated to its factual one. In his work we see how these useful fictions play a key role in neutralizing the overwhelming anxiety that humans can experience as their minds gather and process information. Rudimentary narratives constructed for this purpose, Austin suggests, provided a cognitive scaffold that might have become the basis for our well-documented love of fictional stories. Written in clear, jargon-free prose and employing abundant literary examples--from the Bible to \u003cem\u003eOne Thousand and One Arabian Nights\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eDon Quixote\u003c\/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003eNo Exit\u003c\/em\u003e--Austin's work offers a new way of understanding the relationship between fiction and evolutionary processes--and, perhaps, the very origins of literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMichael Austin is the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas. He is the author of \u003cem\u003eReading the World: Ideas that Matter\u003c\/em\u003e and the editor of \u003cem\u003eA Voice in the Wilderness: Conversations with Terry Tempest Williams\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael Austin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Nebraska Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/01\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.85lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.60h x 5.50w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780803230262\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMichael Austin is the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eReading the World: Ideas that Matter\u003c\/i\u003e and the editor of \u003ci\u003eA Voice in the Wilderness: Conversations with Terry Tempest Williams\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":40389523570803,"sku":"9.78E+12","price":76.42,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_5c5df4a2-9a13-4c03-8b5d-4d9f200b0d5c.jpg?v=1661609234","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/useful-fictions-evolution-anxiety-and-the-origins-of-literature-9780803230262","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}