The Feeling of Psychic Change : Stendhal and the Plasticity of the Brain
Stendhal scatters across his work moments of happiness resisting description, and this article explores the ways he gives form to these fleeting sensations. Creating a dialogue between his writings and neuroplasticity as envisioned by the philosopher Catherine Malabou, I study how these mental event...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/stendhal, |
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| Autore principale: | |
| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
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Revue Stendhal
2026
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| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Riassunto: | Stendhal scatters across his work moments of happiness resisting description, and this article explores the ways he gives form to these fleeting sensations. Creating a dialogue between his writings and neuroplasticity as envisioned by the philosopher Catherine Malabou, I study how these mental events illustrate the vision Stendhal had of the brain : a site of relation between the self and the external world. The singularity of these moments is established by comparing them with feelings of constraint, such as boredom and frustration, the subjective effects of the deprivation of the ability to relate to the world. Contrasted with these states about which the author says a great deal, the moments of bliss are eloquent due to the imprint they impart on the character of his protagonists and the alternative they introduce in the life of the mind : feeling differently. Linking sensation and psychic transformation, Stendhal examines the relation between body and mind, his literary output evidencing the fundamental continuity between these entities. |
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