Journal of Literary Studies
https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls
<div align="left"> <p><strong>Open Access</strong></p> <p>The <em>Journal of Literary Studies/Tydskrif vir Literatuurwetenskap </em>publishes and globally disseminates original and cutting-edge research informed by Literary and Cultural Theory. The Journal is an independent yearly publication owned and published by the Literature Association of South Africa in partnership with Unisa Press. The journal publishes articles and full-length review essays on literature and comparative literature informed by General Literary Theory, Genre Studies, and Critical Theory.</p> </div>Unisa Pressen-USJournal of Literary Studies0256-4718My Silver Stripes and Other Poems, by Maletšema Ruth Emsley
https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls/article/view/15643
Naomi Nkealah
Copyright (c) 2024 Naomi Nkealah
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2024-02-132024-02-134016 pages6 pages10.25159/1753-5387/15643Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: An Overview, by Jeffrey Di Leo
https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls/article/view/15754
Alan Northover
Copyright (c) 2024 Alan Northover
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2024-02-132024-02-134013 pages3 pages10.25159/1753-5387/15754Literary Gerontology Comes of Age: A Poetic Language of Ageing (2023), edited by Olga V. Lehmann and Oddgeir Synnes
https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls/article/view/16073
<p>Book review</p>Antoinette Pretorius
Copyright (c) 2024 Antoinette Pretorius
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2024-04-162024-04-164013 pages3 pages10.25159/1753-5387/16073Robotic Narrative, Mindreading and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun
https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/jls/article/view/14849
<p>Bringing into dialogue the theory of mindreading reformulated within cognitive narratology, this article offers an analysis of Kazuo Ishiguro’s <em>Klara and the Sun</em> (2021). It argues that Ishiguro extends this theory beyond human minds to nonhuman minds and human-machine bonds to explore human minds as human essence. By examining an artificial-intelligence (AI) character-narrator’s struggle to read human minds through observation, this study draws two conclusions. Firstly, machines cannot comprehend entire human minds due to their complexity and variability. A mind encompasses not only an individual’s own intricate thoughts and emotions but also others’ diverse feelings about this individual. Secondly, both humans and machines engage in one-sided mindreading without eliciting reciprocal affective responses. This suggests that the limitations of robotic mindreading, coupled with human anthropocentrism, prevent the establishment of true human-machine intersubjectivity. By illustrating machines’ incapability to possess human minds through robotic narrative, Ishiguro offers a new perspective on the theory of mindreading, asserting the irreplaceable nature of human minds in the age of AI to prompt a reflection on the uniqueness of human minds, a realm that machines cannot replicate or transfer.</p>Guanghui Shang
Copyright (c) 2024 Guanghui Shang
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2024-02-132024-02-1340117 pages17 pages10.25159/1753-5387/14849