COLLOQUIUM: Ineke Sluiter, Leiden, "Mindreading Medea"

Cognitive studies are having an increasing impact on classical studies. In this paper, I will discuss what a cognitive approach to literature would entail, and zoom in on the issue of ‘mindreading’: the attribution of mind states to other people. Literary effects are sometimes achieved when a character is particularly resistant to attempts at mindreading. The prime female example is Penelope in the Odyssey. Euripides’ Medea is an intriguing example of a tragedy in which critics have had great trouble understanding ‘what she is thinking’. We’ll try to find out.