![]() ![]() In my analysis, I suggest that readers’ attribution of mental-states to the vampires in Matheson’s novel is strategically limited through a number of choices in their linguistic construal. I draw upon empirical research into ‘mind attribution’ in social psychology, and apply Cognitive Grammar (Langacker, 2008), and its notion of ‘construal’, as a framework for the application of such findings to narrative. ![]() In this article, I explore the application of such research to the minds constructed for the vampire characters in Richard Matheson’s 1954 science fiction/horror novel I Am Legend. I won’t give away the ending but it really brings the horror and existential crisis home in a gruesome way.For Palmer (2004, 2010), and other proponents of a cognitive narratology, research into real-world minds in the cognitive sciences provides insights into readers’ experiences of fictional minds. I particularly enjoyed the analysis of why vampires are afraid of crosses, Matheson develops a perfectly plausible explanation for all of the classic vampire tropes and does so in such a way that pushes the book from the territory of horror into science fiction. The situation that the protagonist is in is vividly and accurately expressed, a perfect portrayal of what one might go through under the circumstance of being alone and being surrounded by perceived monsters. What struck me as the most important element of this book was the way that emotion was handled and this is where the films truly lacked. I Am Legend is a story about vampires but takes a fresh science fiction interpretation of the classic monster. All three of the films pale in comparison with the book and leave out its most compelling aspects. Many of you have probably seen at least one of the three movies adapted from this short novel.
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