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" Elements of surprise : "
Vera Tobin.
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BL
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| Record Number
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879617
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| Main Entry
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Tobin, Vera,1975-
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| Title & Author
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Elements of surprise : : our mental limits and the satisfactions of plot /\ Vera Tobin.
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| Publication Statement
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Cambridge, Massachusetts :: Harvard University Press,, 2018.
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, ©2018
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| Page. NO
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1 online resource (332 pages)
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| ISBN
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0674919572
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: 9780674919570
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0674980204
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9780674980204
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Includes bibliographical references and index.
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| Contents
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Elementary problems -- The curse of knowledge? -- The poetics of surprise -- The naming of things -- Revelations, recognitions, and the satisfactions of plot -- When unreliability is a surprise -- When narration itself is a surprise -- So many things are obvious (now that we're at the end).
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| Abstract
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Elements of Surprise opens with an novel but narrow focus: how a particular cognitive bias, the "curse of knowledge," underwrites stories that rely on what it calls "well-made surprise," as seen in (for example) classic detective fiction--that is, surprises in novels, films, television, and plays that set us up to be fooled in ways we find pleasing and satisfying. But from there, the book expands its reach. At its core, "cursed" thinking underlies almost everything people write, say, and think about both other people and our own pasts. The more information we have about something, and the more experience we have with it, the harder it is to step outside that experience. What unfolds is both a fresh approach to mental heuristics and biases and an ambitious work of cognitive literary criticism. Elements of Surprise provides a new and exciting way of thinking about the mechanics of narrative, explored through thoughtful readings of classic, popular, and obscure texts.--
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Cognition.
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Literary anatomies.
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Narration (Rhetoric)
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Plots (Drama, novel, etc.)
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Surprise in literature.
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Cognition.
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LANGUAGE ARTS DISCIPLINES-- Composition Creative Writing.
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LANGUAGE ARTS DISCIPLINES-- Rhetoric.
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Literary anatomies.
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Narration (Rhetoric)
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Plots (Drama, novel, etc.)
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REFERENCE-- Writing Skills.
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Surprise in literature.
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| Dewey Classification
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808.3/94
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| LC Classification
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PN3378.T53 2018eb
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