Modernist Literatureand Embodied Mind. Introspection, Body, and Environment

Drawing on New Modernist Studies and Cognitivism, this study focuses on the representation of the body in the works of authors writing between the latter half of the 19th century and the first three decades of the 20th century, who can be categorized within the historical framework of modernism, such as: Gustave Flaubert, Marcel Proust, Constantin Fântâneru, Hortensia-Papadat Bengescu, Sarina Cassvan, Henriette Yvonne Stahl, Mircea Eliade. Starting from the cognitivist theory of “embodiment of mind” and the premise that the development of transportation and public infrastructure, which intensified in the mid- 19th century, is reflected in literature through the movement of the body, I will examine: (1) the relationship between self-awareness, introspection, and the body, as well as (2) the interaction between the body and the environment, focusing on their mutual influence.