TY - JOUR
T1 - Leaning from the human
T2 - Virginia woolf, olaf stapledon, and the challenge of behaviorism
AU - Prystash, Justin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by Johns Hopkins University Press and the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This essay argues that Virginia Woolf’s Flush (1933) and Olaf Stapledon’s Sirius (1944)-novels that focus on the representation of canine consciousness-can be read as a riposte to the reductive materialism of John B. Watson’s behaviorism. Following in the wake of Watson’s ridicule of anthropomorphism and the “stream of consciousness” (indeed, any consciousness at all), Woolf and Stapledon embrace these techniques as they work to affirm the sexuality, spirituality, and rich mental experience of nonhuman animals. Behaviorism is revealed as a productive antagonist that played a vital role in the development of early twentieth-century literature and literary criticism.
AB - This essay argues that Virginia Woolf’s Flush (1933) and Olaf Stapledon’s Sirius (1944)-novels that focus on the representation of canine consciousness-can be read as a riposte to the reductive materialism of John B. Watson’s behaviorism. Following in the wake of Watson’s ridicule of anthropomorphism and the “stream of consciousness” (indeed, any consciousness at all), Woolf and Stapledon embrace these techniques as they work to affirm the sexuality, spirituality, and rich mental experience of nonhuman animals. Behaviorism is revealed as a productive antagonist that played a vital role in the development of early twentieth-century literature and literary criticism.
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U2 - 10.1353/con.2020.0030
DO - 10.1353/con.2020.0030
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85094558251
SN - 1063-1801
VL - 28
SP - 433
EP - 457
JO - Configurations
JF - Configurations
IS - 4
ER -