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Record Nr. |
UNINA9910459998503321 |
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Autore |
Austin Michael <1966-> |
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Titolo |
Useful fictions [[electronic resource] ] : evolution, anxiety, and the origins of literature / / Michael Austin |
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Pubbl/distr/stampa |
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Lincoln, : University of Nebraska Press, c2010 |
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ISBN |
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1-283-05081-1 |
9786613050816 |
0-8032-3297-7 |
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Descrizione fisica |
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1 online resource (193 p.) |
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Collana |
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Disciplina |
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Soggetti |
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Fiction - History and criticism - Theory, etc |
Fiction - Psychological aspects |
Fiction - Appreciation |
Evolution in literature |
Literature - Philosophy |
Electronic books. |
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Lingua di pubblicazione |
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Formato |
Materiale a stampa |
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Livello bibliografico |
Monografia |
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Note generali |
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Description based upon print version of record. |
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Nota di bibliografia |
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Includes bibliographical references and index. |
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Nota di contenuto |
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Scheherazade's stories and Pangloss's nose -- Stories for thinking -- The influence of anxiety -- Information anxiety -- The problem of other people -- Sex, lies, and phenotypes -- Deceiving ourselves and others. |
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Sommario/riassunto |
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"We tell ourselves stories in order to live," Joan Didion observed in The White Album. Why is this? Michael Austin asks, in Useful Fictions. 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? |
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