Suzanne Nalbantian is Professor of Comparative Literature at Long Island University and an interdisciplinary scholar who is Chair of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) Research Committee on Literature and Neuroscience. She is the author of four scholarly books and two edited volumes. Her book Memory in Literature: From Rousseau to Neuroscience (Palgrave 2003) forged new pathways linking literary depictions of memory to neuroscience. She is the principal editor of The Memory Process: Neuroscientific and Humanistic Perspectives (MIT Press 2011), which features original essays by both humanists and brain scientists. She has lectured widely throughout the U.S. and Europe on the topic of memory at such institutions as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, College de France (Paris), the European Science Foundation, Max-Planck (Tubingen), and the Pasteur Institute (Paris). Paul M. Matthews is the Edmund J. and Lily Safra Chair of Translational Neuroscience and Therapeutics, Head of the Division of Brain Sciences in the Department of Medicine of Imperial College, London, and Associate Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute. He is Fellow by Special Election in St. Edmund Hall, Oxford and holds Visiting Professorships at McGill University, Nanyang Technological University and the University of Edinburgh. Professor Matthews was awarded an OBE in 2008 for services to neuroscience and was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2014. He is the co-author of over 380 scientific papers. He is also co-author (with Jeffrey McQuain) of the book The Bard on the Brain: Understanding the Mind through the Art of Shakespeare and the Science of Brain Imaging and co-editor (with Suzanne Nalbantian and James McClelland) of The Memory Process: Neuroscientific and Humanistic Perspectives (MIT Press 2011).
The singular strength of this curated collection is the varied
areas of expertise represented, which allows readers to see how
creativity is conceptualized at the microscopic and macroscopic
levels through hard science and empiricism, as articulated in
historical, literary, and personal narratives of creative
individuals. This collection draws on multiple disciplines[...] but
undergraduates in any of the individual fields of neuroscience,
psychology, literature, art, or history can appreciate their
respective sections. Readers will hopefully come away with a new
understanding, or at least an appreciation, of the challenges
involved in deconstructing creativity.
*K. Feigenson, Albright College, CHOICE*
In the 1959 Two Cultures, C. P. Snow famously argued for a vast
intellectual divide between the sciences and the humanities. Yet
the 2019, Secrets of Creativity proves that scientific researchers
and humanistic scholars--joined by artistic creators--can
meaningfully share their insights concerning a ubiquitous and
multifaceted phenomenon. Indeed, creativity can only be fully
understood through this conversation among experts in psychology,
psychiatry, neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, literary
studies, art history, creative writing, and musical composition.
That conversation renders this volume an interdisciplinary tour de
force.
*Dean Keith Simonton, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of
Psychology, University of California, Davis, and author of The
Genius Checklist: Nine Paradoxical Tips about How You Can Become a
Creative Genius*
In Secrets of Creativity Suzanne Nalbantian and Paul Matthewshave
assembledan impressive collection of essays from a stellar group of
thinkers in the arts and humanities, as well as from the sciences
of mind and brain. This unique volume will have a lasting impact on
how we think about creativity.
*Joseph LeDoux, Professor of Neural Science at NYU and author
ofanxiousand ofThe Deep History of Ourselves*
Supernal spirits from La Mettrie to Langer will be smiling over the
brilliant assembly of living theoreticians of science and culture
gathered here by humanist Suzanne Nalbantian and scientist Paul M.
Matthews who striveto rekindle our interdisciplinary discourse over
human self-awareness and the astounding range of human expression
in light of thenewest advances in study of the brain. Guided by
Nalbantian and her team the reader never loses sight of how
mysterious is the evolutionary pathway of creativity -- and then
how rapid the newest surges in brain science -- leading to this
exciting intellectual juncture.
*Gerald Gillespie, Professor Emeritus in the Division of
Literatures, Cultures, and Languages at Stanford University and
author of Living Streams: Continuity and Change from Rabelais to
Joyce*
Creativity is something we all recognize when we witness it, but a
mental process that is difficult to pin down. From conceptions
entailing preparation, incubation, illumination and verification,
through to neuroscience ideas about the diversity of brain areas
involved, Nalbantian and Matthews brilliantly orchestrate a panoply
of ideas from the sciences and the humanities. This is not a "how
to" book, but a thoughtful reflection, bringing in also social and
cultural influences such as those which led to the magical blending
of ideas in Cervantes and Shakespeare. A book to help us understand
better those amazing "aha" moments of our lives.
*Richard Morris FRS, Professor of Neuroscience, University of
Edinburgh and co-editor of The Hippocampus Book*
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