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PRODID:talks.ox.ac.uk
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SUMMARY:'Fiction and Other Minds' Seminar': Embodied Words and Creative Wo
 rlds - Dr Nadine Sigalov\, Professor Kate Rossmanith
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260211T171500Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260211T190000Z
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/8f66cc64-8897-41db-8d72-59de89c94c8c/
DESCRIPTION:HT26 'Fiction and Other Minds' Seminar': Embodied Words and Cr
 eative Worlds\n\n* Dr Nadine Sigalov: Embodied Entanglements: Synesthesia\
 , Hypermnesia\, and Creativity Between Literature and Neuroscience in The 
 Memory Artists and The Beautiful Miscellaneous\n\nThis study explores the 
 intersection of synaesthesia\, memory\, and creativity as depicted in Jeff
 rey Moore’s The Memory Artists (2004) and Dominic Smith’s The Beautifu
 l Miscellaneous (2007). By intertwining narrative elements with neuroscien
 tific insights\, these novels foreground synesthetic experiences as a mean
 s to challenge the entrenched duality of art and science. In doing so\, th
 e analysis highlights an epistemologically entangled framework (devised by
  Kristin Zeiler)\, where science and art co-develop and co-emerge\, foster
 ing a nuanced understanding that transcends dualistic approaches.\n\nEmplo
 ying a New Materialist lens\, the study explores how synaesthesia fosters 
 embodied interconnectedness\, where sensory and cognitive dynamics reshape
  conceptions of self and the world. The protagonists’ intertwined hyperm
 nesic and synesthetic experiences illustrate the transformative potential 
 of blending subjective and objective perspectives. Through synesthetic cre
 ativity and the reimagining of memory dynamics\, these narratives connect 
 literary creativity to neurodiversity’s innovative potential. Moreover\,
  they present reading as an embodied act that transforms sensory and cogni
 tive interplay into a process of discovery\, enriching memory and imaginat
 ion through synaesthesia. Drawing on concepts such as Karen Barad’s intr
 a-action\, Patricia Waugh’s affective realism\, and Catherine Malabou’
 s destructive plasticity\, this paper argues that synaesthesia functions a
 s both a narrative device and a sensory process\, emphasising its implicat
 ions for understanding neurodiversity\, creativity\, and the materiality o
 f experience.\n\n\n* Professor Kate Rossmanith: Master Perceiver: How writ
 ers conceptualise themselves as documenters of their worlds\n\nAustralian 
 writer Helen Garner was awarded the 2025 UK Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonf
 iction for How to End a Story\, becoming the first writer to win the award
  with a collection of diaries. It is said of Garner\, and she says of hers
 elf\, that her ‘sharp gaze roams widely’. Judges praised the diaries f
 or their ‘ecstatic attention to details of everyday life’\, and they h
 ave been compared to those of Virginia Woolf. What does it mean\, for writ
 ers\, to document a moving world? How do writers conceptualise their witne
 ssing-and-recording selves? This paper considers the concepts of personhoo
 d and of existence that animate a documentarian’s mind and that give ris
 e to a feeling of knowledge.\n\n\nWednesday 11 February 17:15 to 19:00\, S
 eminar Room 10\, St Anne's College\nLink: https://occt.web.ox.ac.uk/event/
 fiction-and-other-minds-embodied-interconnectedness-through-synaesthesia-a
 rt-intersubjectivity\nSpeakers:\nDr Nadine Sigalov\, Professor Kate Rossma
 nith
LOCATION:St Anne's College ( Seminar Room 10\, St Anne's College)\, Woodst
 ock Road OX2 6HS
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/8f66cc64-8897-41db-8d72-59de89c94c8c/
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DESCRIPTION:Talk:'Fiction and Other Minds' Seminar': Embodied Words and Cr
 eative Worlds - Dr Nadine Sigalov\, Professor Kate Rossmanith
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