Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction explores how fiction works in the brains and imagination of both readers and writers.

• Demonstrates how reading fiction can contribute to a greater understanding of, and the ability to change, ourselves
• Informed by the latest psychological research which focuses on, for example, how identification with fictional characters occurs, and how literature can improve social abilities
• Explores traditional aspects of fiction, including character, plot, setting, and theme, as well as a number of classic techniques, such as metaphor, metonymy, defamiliarization, and cues
• Includes extensive end-notes, which ground the work in psychological studies
• Features excerpts from fiction, which are discussed throughout the text, including works by William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Kate Chopin, Anton Chekhov, James Baldwin, and others

Reviewers have compared Keith Oatley's pure, spare prose with that of A.S. Byatt and Umberto Eco. In Therefore Choose, his intimately rendered characters draw us into an intense quest for meaning in a world diving headlong into chaos. Oatley is the author of two highly acclaimed novels: The Case of Emily V., which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book, and A Natural History. Professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, Keith Oatley has long been fascinated with the way humans communicate ideas and emotions. His numerous publications on the subject include Emotions: A Brief History and Understanding Emotions.

Keith Oatley's profile page

Joel Pierson's profile page