Abstract
In recent years, a substantial amount of critical attention has been given to what Marco Roth, in 2009, termed the ‘neuronovel’. Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers and Thinks… by David Lodge are generally included by critics under this definition, but this chapter argues that they are better classified as postneuronovels if we are to take the prevailing categorizations, with their emphasis on the ability of neuroscience to ‘refresh and redeem’ an exhausted literature, as our starting point. Despite incorporating detailed research from neuroscience and conveying it with pedagogical determination, these two novels actually undermine materialist conceptions of the self in favour of traditional humanist ones, at the same time that they utilize scientific materialism in order to deprecate literary and cultural theory. Where these two novels do move beyond traditional humanism, though, is in their attempt to provide a material basis for human emotion, and, by extension, for the novel.
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Notes
- 1.
Marco Roth, “The Rise of the Neuronovel”, n+1, 8 (Fall 2009).
- 2.
Francisco Ortega and Fernando Vidal, “Brains in Literature/Literature in the Brain”, Poetics Today 34, no. 3 (Fall 2013): 328–360 (p. 327).
- 3.
Gary Johnson, “Consciousness as Content: Neuronarratives and the Redemption of Fiction”, Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 41, no. 1 (2008): 169–184 (p. 183). Ortega and Vidal detect ‘ambivalence vis- à-vis the neurosolipsism’ of some of their scientifically-minded characters (p. 350), and Andrew Gaedtke finds ‘an assertion of first-person, narrative experience as an irreducible component of consciousness’ in these novels. Andrew Gaedtke, “Cognitive Investigations: The Problems of Qualia and Style in the Contemporary Neuronovel”, Novel: A Forum on Fiction 45, no. 2 (2012): 184–201 (p. 196).
- 4.
Stephen J. Burn, Jonathan Franzen at the End of Postmodernism (London: Continuum, 2008), 10–11.
- 5.
Michael Payne and John Schad, “Preface: What Are We After?”, in Life.After.Theory, ed. Michael Payne and John Schad (London: Continuum, 2003), x.
- 6.
David Lodge, Consciousness and the Novel (London: Penguin, 2003), 10.
- 7.
Daniel C. Dennett, Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005), 5. All further references to this text will be given parenthetically.
- 8.
Thomas Nagel, “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” The Philosophical Review 83 (1974): 435–450.
- 9.
Derek Steinberg, Consciousness Reconnected: Missing Links Between Self, Neuroscience, Psychology and the Arts (Oxford: Radcliffe, 2006), 6.
- 10.
John Searle, The Rediscovery of the Mind (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992).
- 11.
Daniel C. Dennett, Consciousness Explained (London: Allen Lane, 1992).
- 12.
V. S. Ramachandran and William Hirstein, “Three Laws of Qualia: What Neurology Tells Us About the Biological Functions of Consciousness, Qualia and the Self”, in Models of the Self, ed. Shaun Gallagher and Jonathan Shear (Thorverton: Imprint Academic, 1999), 83–112 (p. 86).
- 13.
Galen Strawson, “The Self”, in Models of the Self, 1–24 (p. 20).
- 14.
Kathleen V. Wilkes, “Know Thyself”, in Models of the Self, 25–38 (p. 28).
- 15.
For a detailed discussion of Powers’ attitude to science in his fiction see his interview conducted by Jian Sun in Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction entitled “Fictional Collisions: Richard Powers on Hybrid Narrative and the Art of Stereoscopic Storytelling”, 54, no. 4 (2013): 335–345.
- 16.
Richard Powers, Galatea 2.2 (New York: Picador, 1995), 15. All further references to this text will be given parenthetically.
- 17.
For example, Richard befriends one of Lentz’s colleague’s children, a boy named William who displays autistic traits, and spars with him over the populations of countries and their flags.
- 18.
Richard Powers in Jeffrey J. Williams, “The Last Generalist: An Interview with Richard Powers”, Minnesota Review 52–54 (2001): 95–114 (pp. 102–103).
- 19.
Powers in Jeffrey J. Williams, 96.
- 20.
Kathryn Hume, “Moral Problematics in the Novels of Richard Powers”, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 54, no. 1 (2013): 1–17 (p. 1).
- 21.
Jim Neilson, “Dirtying Our Hands: An Introduction to the Fiction of Richard Powers”, Review of Contemporary Fiction 1, no. 18 (1998): 7–12 (p. 12).
- 22.
Daniel C. Dennet, Sweet Dreams, 14.
- 23.
Heinz Ickstadt, “Surviving in the Particular? Uni(versali)ty and Multiplicity in the Novels of Richard Powers”, European Journal of American Studies 2, no. 1 (2007), 2–13 (p. 2).
- 24.
Michael Greaney, Contemporary Fiction and the Uses of Theory: The Novel from Structuralism to Postmodernism (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 53.
- 25.
Mark Bould and Sherryl Vint, “Of Neural Nets and Brains in Vats: Model Subjects in Galatea 2.2 and Plus”, Biography 30, no. 1 (2007): 84–105 (p. 91).
- 26.
Michael Greaney points out, in his reading of the novel, that A.’s reading of The Tempest is ‘so predictable that it might well have been produced by a machine, whereas the machine’s response is much more quirky, personal and “human” than that of the theoretically over-educated student’, thus highlighting a further way in which Helen is used to undermine literary theory. Contemporary Fiction and the Uses of Theory, 52–53.
- 27.
David Lodge, Consciousness and the Novel (London: Penguin, 2003), 16.
- 28.
David J. Chalmers, “Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness”, Journal of Consciousness Studies 2, no. 3 (1995): 200–219 (p. 203).
- 29.
David Lodge , Thinks… (London: Penguin, 2001), 1. All further references to this text will be given parenthetically.
- 30.
S. Anthony Barnett, “The Pale Cast of Thought: An Essay Review of Thinks… by David Lodge ”, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 28, no. 3 (2003): 179–183 (p. 183).
- 31.
Michael Sinding, “Thinks…: A Novel”, Style 38, no. 1 (2004): 93–113 (p. 95).
- 32.
Daniel C. Dennett, Consciousness Explained (London: Allen Lane, 1992), 410–411.
- 33.
David Lodge, Nice Work (London: Penguin, 1989), 304.
- 34.
Jacques Derrida, “The Law of Genre”, trans. Avital Ronell, Critical Inquiry 7, no. 1 (Autumn 1980): 55–81 (p. 55).
Bibliography
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Bould, Mark, and Sherryl Vint. 2007. Of Neural Nets and Brains in Vats: Model Subjects in Galatea 2.2 and Plus. Biography 30, no. 1: 84–105.
Burn, Stephen J. 2008. Jonathan Franzen at the End of Postmodernism. London: Continuum.
Chalmers, David J. 1995. Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies 2, no. 3: 200–219.
Dennett, Daniel C. 1992. Consciousness Explained. London: Allen Lane.
Dennett, Daniel C. 2005. Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Derrida, Jacques. 1980. The Law of Genre. Trans. Avital Ronell. Critical Inquiry 7, no. 1: 55–81.
Greaney, Michael. 2006. Contemporary Fiction and the Uses of Theory: The Novel from Structuralism to Postmodernism. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hume, Kathryn. 2013. Moral Problematics in the Novels of Richard Powers. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 54, no. 1: 1–17.
Ickstadt, Heinz. 2007. Surviving in the Particular? Uni(versali)ty and Multiplicity in the Novels of Richard Powers. European Journal of American Studies 2, no. 1: 2–13.
Johnson, Gary. 2008. Consciousness as Content: Neuronarratives and the Redemption of Fiction. Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 41, no. 1: 169–184.
Lodge, David. 1989. Nice Work. London: Penguin.
Lodge, David. 2001. Thinks…. London: Penguin.
Lodge, David. 2003. Consciousness and the Novel. London: Penguin.
Nagel, Thomas. 1974. What Is It Like to Be a Bat? The Philosophical Review 83: 435–450.
Neilson, Jim. 1998. Dirtying Our hands: An Introduction to the Fiction of Richard Powers. Review of Contemporary Fiction 1, no. 18: 7–12.
Ortega, Francisco, and Fernando Vidal. 2013. Brains in Literature/Literature in the Brain. Poetics Today 34, no. 3: 328–360.
Payne, Michael, and John Schad. 2003. Life.After.Theory. London: Continuum.
Powers, Richard. 1995. Galatea 2.2. New York: Picador.
Ramachandran, V. S., and William Hirstein. 1999. Three Laws of Qualia: What Neurology Tells Us About the Biological Functions of Consciousness, Qualia and the Self. In Models of the Self, ed. Shaun Gallagher and Jonathan Shear, 83–112. Thorverton: Imprint Academic.
Roth, Marco. 2009. The Rise of the Neuronovel. n+1, 8.
Searle, John. 1992. The Rediscovery of the Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Sinding, Michael. 2004. Thinks…: A Novel. Style 38, no. 1: 93–113.
Steinberg, Derek. 2006. Consciousness Reconnected: Missing Links Between Self, Neuroscience, Psychology and the Arts. Oxford: Radcliffe.
Strawson, Galen. 1999. The Self. In Models of the Self, ed. Shaun Gallagher and Jonathan Shear, 1–24. Thorverton: Imprint Academic.
Wilkes, Kathleen V. 1999. Know Thyself. In Models of the Self, ed. Shaun Gallagher and Jonathan Shear, 25–38. Thorverton: Imprint Academic.
Williams, Jeffrey J. 2001. The Last Generalist: An Interview with Richard Powers. Minnesota Review 52–54: 95–114.
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Holland, R. (2019). The Postneuronovel: Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers and Thinks… by David Lodge. In: Contemporary Fiction and Science from Amis to McEwan. Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16375-4_3
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