The Narrative Brain

“The Narrative Brain is a uniquely interdisciplinary exploration of the emotional rewards of narrative thinking. This witty, imaginative, and genre-crossing book changes everything we thought we knew about how stories satisfy their readers.”—Lisa Zunshine, author of The Secret Life of Literature

“In this masterful synthesis of science and the humanities, Fritz Breithaupt crafts a convincing and exhilarating story of how humans shape the narratives that, in turn, shape us.”—Robert Goldstone, executive editor, Current Directions in Psychological Science
 

“This innovative book invites readers to engage with their own lives as ‘story’ by laying out the narratological basis of our interactions, identities, memories, and intergenerational legacies.”—Anette Schwarz, Cornell University

“A brilliant, groundbreaking, and delightful book.”—Angus Fletcher, author of Wonderworks: Literary Invention and the Science of Stories

“Fritz Breithaupt applies the concept and analysis of narration to a practice of consciousness that we all perform daily, inviting his readers to enjoy a productive reflection on their own existence.”—Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, author of Production of Presence
 
“Fritz Breithaupt expands our understanding of the co-creating reader, who entertains multiple possible directions, possibilities, and outcomes of a narrative while reading.”—Suzanne Keen, author of Empathy and the Novel

“Fritz Breithaupt seamlessly weaves humanistic studies and scientific methods into a grand picture of what narration, the capability of telling stories, accomplishes for human existence.”—Rüdiger Campe, Yale University

“Everyone is talking about narratives. Finally there is a book to explain what’s really behind them.”—Wolfram Eilenberger, author of The Visionaries and Time of the Magicians