LEADER 03176nam 2200529 450 001 9910792708303321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-4962-0164-7 010 $a1-4962-0166-3 035 $a(CKB)3710000001178119 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC4845695 035 $a(OCoLC)984342727 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse56628 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL4845695 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr11377580 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL1007548 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000001178119 100 $a20170511h20172017 uy 1 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 14$aThe cruft of fiction $emega-novels and the science of paying attention /$fDavid Letzler 210 1$aLincoln, [Nebraska] ;$aLondon, [England] :$cUniversity of Nebraska Press,$d2017. 210 4$dİ2017 215 $a1 online resource (vii, 303 pages) 225 1 $aFrontiers of narrative 300 $aBased on the author's dissertation (doctoral)--City University of New York, 2014. 311 $a0-8032-9962-1 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aIntroduction : information and attention in the mega-novel -- The dictionary -- The encyclopedia -- Life-writing -- The Menippean satire -- Episodic narrative -- The epic and the allegory -- Conclusion : the fate of the mega-novel. 330 $aWhat is the strange appeal of big books? The mega-novel, a genre of erudite tomes with encyclopedic scope, has attracted wildly varied responses, from fanatical devotion to trenchant criticism. Looking at intimidating mega-novel masterpieces from The Making of Americans to 2666, David Letzler explores reader responses to all the seemingly random, irrelevant, pointless, and derailing elements that comprise these mega-novels, elements that he labels "cruft" after the computer science term for junk code. Letzler suggests that these books are useful tools to help us understand the relationship between reading and attention. While mega-novel text is often intricately meaningful or experimental, sometimes it is just excessive and pointless. On the other hand, mega-novels also contain text that, though appearing to be cruft, turns out to be quite important. Letzler posits that this cruft requires readers to develop a sophisticated method of attentional modulation, allowing one to subtly distinguish between text requiring focused attention and text that must be skimmed or even skipped to avoid processing failures. "The Cruft of Fiction" shows how the attentional maturation prompted by reading mega-novels can help manage the information overload that increasingly characterizes contemporary life. 410 0$aFrontiers of narrative. 606 $aFiction$xPsychological aspects 606 $aReading, Psychology of 615 0$aFiction$xPsychological aspects. 615 0$aReading, Psychology of. 676 $a808.3 700 $aLetzler$b David$01516164 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910792708303321 996 $aThe cruft of fiction$93752445 997 $aUNINA