Experimentalism and cognition

Abstract

This study approaches experimental literary texts from a cognitive perspective. It investigates if a constructivist modeling of cognition can be applied to such texts, and contends that there is a two-way relation between memory and literary experimentations. It suggests a fresh look at literary experimentalism – from the perspective of the cognitive processes involved in challenging (text, language, and world) schemata to varying degrees. There exists a vast body of knowledge on experimental texts, but the study of cognitive processing of such texts has until now been a less studied area of cognitive research. This study defines two main types of experimental texts based on their closeness to or divergence from the schematic parameters of world, text, and language: proximal and distal. The study shows how distal experimentations are conventionalized over the course of time and call for re-innovation.