Written by neurology specialist Prof. Dr. Oğuz Tanrıdağ, the book titled "Learning the Brain through Novels - Brain Maps in Literature" covers the lives of many artists such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky with epilepsy and novelist Iris Murdoch who succumbed to Alzheimer's disease, their relationships with their illnesses and their reflections on their works.
Prof. Dr. Oğuz Tanrıdağ, Head of the Department of Neuroscience at Üsküdar University, Neurology Specialist at NPISTANBUL Hospital, approached neurology from a literary perspective in his new book titled "Learning the Brain through Novels-Brain Moire in Literature". The book discusses the brain diseases that the most important writers of the literary world address through their heroes in their works, as well as how their diseases are reflected in their lives and works.
Literature-brain relationship is viewed from different perspectives
The book published by Boyut Publishing, "How can the structure of human memory be understood?", "Why does neuroscience wear dark suits?", "What would the world be like if it were ruled by right-brained people?", "How does a neurologist become a man of letters?", "Why doesn't the brain accept what the eye sees?", "What could be the function of neuro-novels today?", "What happens in our heads while reading a novel?", "What kind of unity is Dostoevsky and epilepsy?", "How did Dostoevsky know about neuron theory?", "How does Alzheimer's disease destroy a literary artist?" and "How does Proust's lost memory appear in Eco?".
Prof. Dr. Oğuz Tanrıdağ, in the book titled "Brain Moire in Literature", discusses the impressions about the brain that we encounter in different examples of literature, together with their counterparts in neuroscience within the integrity of the history of thought. Prof. Dr. Tanrıdağ draws attention to the fact that the information we have about some brain functions and diseases through these authors, whose works he gives examples from, is located in sources that are older than what we have been told, or that are considered current but unconventional, and that they are waiting to be read.
Neuroaesthetics explores the relationship between the brain and art
Stating that social and cultural brain research is research that examines human social and cultural life in the light of evolutionary and social psychology and questions the social and cultural mechanisms in the brain, Prof. Dr. Tanrıdağ said, "Thanks to this research, we have begun to understand the relationship of the brain with the basic concepts of art. On such a basis, a new field of experimentation and knowledge about brain-art relations has emerged. This field is neuroaesthetics. Neuroaesthetics is the study of the biological mechanisms in the human structure and, of course, in the brain of the feelings of beauty and pleasure evoked by art in terms of form and content."
If the world was ruled by right-brained people
Prof. Dr. Oğuz Tanrıdağ, who seeks answers to the question "What would the world be like if it were ruled by right-brained people?", makes some observations by taking into account the characteristics of some politicians that were discussed in a previous series of articles. Prof. Tanrıdağ gives examples from the presidents of various countries, including former prime minister Bülent Ecevit, and concludes that "If the world was ruled by right-brained people, there would be much less racism, colonialism, discrimination, war, death and hunger".
Characters with epilepsy in Dostoevsky's novels
The book also evaluates Dostoevsky's relationship with his epilepsy and how he handled epilepsy in his works. Prof. Dr. Tanrıdağ explains the reasons for Dostoyevsky's novel The Idiot in this book as follows: "The protagonist of the novel, Prince Mishkin, has epilepsy. The second reason is that Dostoevsky is known as an epileptic among the literati and it is believed that his illness affected and even shaped what he wrote in his novels."
The book titled "Brain Moire in Literature" includes examples of many literary figures and their works, including the author Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, and Friedrich Schiller, one of the founders of contemporary German literature.
