Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer

Book Review by Megan Agnew | 28 Jan 2011
Book title: Proust Was a Neuroscientist
Author: Jonah Lehrer

 

Jonah Lehrer’s exploration into that old Science vs. Art debate throws up some refreshing and thought-provoking messages. Lehrer takes his modern-day reader into the archives of literary history, pondering over the musings of poets, writers, artists and composers in order to prove his theory – not just that Proust was a neuroscientist, but that artists and new-radicals are the innovative crowd in matters of science and, in particular, the human brain. In a study of some of the most prolific art-crowd – including George Eliot, Igor Stravinsky and the poet Walt Whitman – Leher makes the point that it is through the boundless freedom at the heart of these artists’ work, that they have uncovered truths about science before the scientists themselves have had a chance to catch up. The artistic hypothesis which forms the foundation of the work of these creative thinkers is based on ‘measuring the immeasurable’. They attempt it by treating their art as a living entity – exploring the ‘anatomy of emotion’ rather than treating their art as pure surface matter. in this fascinating and unusual book, Lehrer makes an insightful case for Art triumphing over Science, selecting visionary thinkers to illustrate his very valid points. [Megan Agnew]

 

Release date 3 Feb. Published by Canongate. Cover price £16.99