"Fictional Minds suggests that readers understand novels primarily by
following the functioning of the minds of characters in the novel
storyworlds. Despite the importance of this aspect of the reading
process, traditional narrative theory does not include a complete and
coherent theory of fictional minds. Readers create a continuing
consciousness out of scattered references to a particular character and
read this consciousness as an "embedded narrative" within the whole
narrative of the novel. The combination of these embedded narratives
forms the plot. This perspective on narrative enables us to explore
hitherto neglected aspects of fictional minds such as dispositions,
emotions, and action. It also highlights the social, public, and
dialogic mind and the "mind beyond the skin." For example, much of our
thought is "intermental," or joint, group, or shared; even our identity
is, to an extent, socially distributed. Written in a clear and
accessible style, "Fictional Minds analyzes constructions of
characters' minds in the fictional texts of a wide range of authors,
from Aphra Behn and Henry Fielding to Evelyn Waugh and Thomas Pynchon.
In its innovative and groundbreaking explorations, this
interdisciplinary project also makes substantial use of "real-mind"
disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, psycholinguistics, and
cognitive science.