Elisa Galgut, 'The Marriage of Two Minds: Empathy, Mentalization and the Sonnet'

Good literature develops our capacity for reflective functioning and mentalization: via complex literary techniques, the novels of Jane Austen or the sonnets of Shakespeare encourage the development of higher order cognitive and emotional capacities, which assist us in thinking about our own minds, and the minds of others. The sonnet form in particular, owing to its lyrical nature, encourages introspection self-reflection; in this talk, I'll examine in detail a few select sonnets to illustrate how literary form is able to encourage both self-reflection and empathy. Along the way, I'll also try to show how a psychoanalytic understanding of the emotions sheds light on why poetry moves us the way it does.