Thinking with the world : Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello

This chapter begins with a critique of two foundational propositions within the emerging discipline of cognitive poetics: first, that human consciousness provides an adequate model or analog for both thought itself and the nature of the novel; second, that the kind of thought which emerges from human consciousness is built around metaphor. I argue that we need to be aware of the limitations imposed by these propositions, and consider the extent to which they are capable of fully accounting for the kind of thinking that takes place in literature. I move from here to consider how one of the most interesting strands of cognitive psychology and cognitive science, "distributed cognition" or "extended mind" might be applied to ideas of literary practice. I end by developing a reading of J. M. Coetzee's novel Elizabeth Costello to reflect further on these issues.