Mentalization and Literary Form

This book examines the ways in which literary form facilitates mentalization and our ability to be aware of our own and others’ mental states, showing how we can use this awareness to make sense of our experiences and interactions. Looking at narrative, the sonnet, free indirect speech, and autobiographical memory, Elisa Galgut focuses on the ways in which literary form not only contains difficult emotions, but how it shapes and develops these emotional states. She considers how the creative min