The Laboratory of Literature: the Link to Neuroscience
Daring New Book Suggests Literature and Art
Hold Valuable Clues into the Workings of Human Memory

January 22, 2003 - Suzanne Nalbantian’s latest book, Memory in Literature: From Rousseau to Neuroscience, presents a new approach to the scientific study of memory through her analysis of major literary works. She reveals how literature provides a window on the mental processes that produce memory.

Against the dynamic background of contemporary neuroscience, Nalbantian, a professor of comparative literature at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, explores how literature can be used to unlock how humans encode, store and retrieve memory. Nalbantian analyzes the classic works of such writers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Andre Breton, William Faulkner and Octavio Paz to demonstrate that the literary text is often a virtual enactment of different memory processes.

By analyzing the authors as well as the characters and images they create, she collects and interprets data on memory processes involving emotions, the senses, short- and long-term memory, the unconscious mind, environmental associations, and involuntary versus voluntary memory.

"Literature provides a valuable opportunity for capturing episodes of memory," said Nalbantian, who adds, "The literary masters are worthy scientific subjects due to their heightened sensitivity and powers of observation combined with their superior ability to communicate their experiences." In addition, their recollections were recorded under natural circumstances unlike scientific studies which are often conducted in controlled environments.

"In this book, Suzanne Nalbantian boldly ushers in a new way of writing about literature," said Jean-Michel Rabaté, professor of English and comparative literature at University of Pennsylvania. "She bridges the gap between literary criticism and the neurosciences by focusing on the phenomenon of memory as a site of interdisciplinary interaction."

Nalbantian hopes that scientists will use the information she has collected to enhance their laboratory research beyond the traditional fruit fly and mouse testing.

As part of her ongoing study, Nalbantian is scheduled to give a talk with well-known neurobiologist Tim Tully at the world-renowned Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on September 21, 2003. The co-presentation, titled "A Composition of Memory: From Literature to Brain," will be an attempt to synthesize the two perspectives on memory.

Memory in Literature: From Rousseau to Neuroscience will be published in February 2003 by Palgrave Global Publishers.

Suzanne Nalbantian is a professor of English and comparative literature at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, NY. A graduate of Barnard College, she earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University at age 24 and is a permanent member of its Society of Fellows. A specialist in nineteenth and twentieth-century European literatures, she is the author of The Symbol of the Soul from Holderlin to Yeats; Seeds of Decadence in the Late Nineteenth-Century Novel; and Aesthetic Autobiography: From Life to Art in Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Anais Nin. She has also edited Anais Nin: Literary Perspectives. She is the winner of the Trustees Award for Scholarly Achievement at Long Island University. She has lectured at the Sorbonne University in Paris, where she did much of her research for her current book.

For additional information, call the C.W. Post Office of Public Relations at (516) 299-2332.