Search

This study reports on the contribution and the legitimacy of a transversal reading between literature and cognitive science, through a contemporary french novel, La Possibilité d’une île (The Possibility of an Island) by Michel Houellebecq. Relying on the autopoietic model, developed by Francisco Varela and Humberto Maturana, we propose to read this text from a chaotic, metastable point of view. Finally, we underline the double significance of this interference between literature and cognition: on one hand, a methodological renewal in literary cartography thanks to cognitive models, on the other hand, the revitalization of the approaches and concepts in cognitive science through a narrative context.