24th Annual Student Research Conference
Interlocking Worlds: A Cognitive Reading of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas
Kathryn J. McClain
Dr. Sarah Mohler, Faculty Mentor
Many books tend to include flashbacks or dream sequences into their plotlines, as they add character development and depth to enhance the reader's involvement. However, rarely do novels involve quite as many subworlds as David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. Mitchell does not simply take his readers briefly into the future, or place his characters into a narrative situation; Mitchell takes this situation to the extreme, dividing his novel into six distinct interlocking sections which simultaneously confirm and deny the rest. By looking closer at two sections of the novel, "The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing" and "Letters from Zedelghem," this paper will explore the different dietic and attitudinal subworlds Mitchell creates, and how these subworlds are used to connect and enhance the readers interest in the stories.
Keywords: Cloud , Atlas, David, Mitchell, Cognitive, Subworld
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 26-1
Location: VH 1324
Time: 1:15