How can we understand and analyse the primarily unconscious process of writing? In this groundbreaking work of neuro-cognitive literary theory, Ian Lancashire maps the interplay of
self-conscious critique and unconscious creativity.
Forgetful Muses shows how a writer's own `anonymous,' that part of the mind that creates language up to the point of consciousness, is the genesis of thought. Those thoughts are then
articulated by an author's inner voice and become subject to critique by the mind's `reader-editor'. The `reader editor' engages with the `anonymous,' which uses this information to formulate
new ideas. Drawing on author testimony, cybernetics, cognitive psychology, corpus linguistics, text analysis, the neurobiology of mental aging, and his own experiences, Lancashire's close
readings of twelve authors, including Caedmon, Chaucer, Coleridge, Joyce, Christie, and Atwood, serve to illuminate a mystery we all share.
