Table of Contents
Introduction Steven Willemsen and Miklós Kiss Part I: THE ATTRACTIONS OF COGNITIVE CHALLENGE IN (POST-)CLASSICAL NARRATIVES & GENRE FICTION
Chapter 1. Aesthetics and ‘Active Discovery’: The Pleasure of Moderate Cognitive Challenge in Mass Art Todd Berliner
Chapter 2. Narration, Implicature, and the Deceptive Puzzle Film Warren Buckland
Chapter 3. Cognitive Challenge in Complex Science Fiction: Knowledge, Reason and Threat in Narratives of Time Travel and Extraterrestrial Contact Hilary Duffield
Chapter 4. Strange Loops and Nonhuman Realities: Complex Narrative Faces the Climate Crisis Marco Caracciolo
Part II: MESMERIZED MINDS & BODIES: ART-CINEMA & MODERNIST AESTHETICS
Chapter 5. The Puzzling Film Environments of Fellini’s 8½ Steffen Hven
Chapter 6. 2 or 3 Things? Polyphony, Cognitive Challenge and Aesthetic Pleasure in Godard’s (Counter) Cinema Maria Poulaki
Chapter 7. Embodying Fragmentation in Film: The Spatio-temporal Logic of Cinematic Modernism Maarten Coëgnarts
Chapter 8. The Most Difficult Riddle András Bálint Kovács
Part III: NOVEL PLEASURES IN CONTEMPORARY SERIAL TELEVISION: FROM COMPLEXITY TO CONFUSION
Chapter 9. Multiform Television Matthew Campora
Chapter 10. ‘I Can’t Keep Track of Any of It Anymore’: Cognitive Challenge and Other Aesthetic Appeals in Community Jason Gendler
Chapter 11. How Not to Comprehend Television: Notes on Complexity and Confusion Jason Mittell
Part IV: READING, VIEWING, ENGAGING: CONCEPTUALIZING THE PLEASURES OF BEING CHALLENGED
Chapter 12. Challenges of Enjoying Morally Ambiguous Character Drama: The Dexter Case Ed S. Tan, Monique Timmers, Claire M. Segijn, Suzanna J. Opree, Guus Bartholomé
Chapter 13. The Fascination of Failure: On Predictability, Unpredictability and Postdictability in Art Marina Grishakova
Chapter 14. Expressive Challenge and the Metaphoricity of Literary Reading Don Kuiken
Chapter 15. Who Likes Complex Films? Personality and Preferences for Narrative Complexity Steven Willemsen, Katalin Bálint, Frank Hakemulder, Miklós Kiss, Elly Konijn, Kirill Fayn
Index