“Love Thy Neighbor”: Neuroculture, Fundamentalism, and the Other in Gish Jen’s World and Town

Abstract

This article explores the parallax relationship that runs through two coexisting, yet irreconcilable viewpoints in Gish Jen’s World and Town: mind/body, reason/faith, and self/other, respectively, in the scientific, religious, and political realms. The first part, “A World of Neuro-Cognitivism,” probes the neurobiological parallax binary constructed by Carter and Hattie—the neuronal and the mental. The second part, “A Town of Faith,” investigates another parallax relationship between reason and faith (or fact and faith) through the beliefs of three characters—Ginny (a fundamentalist), Hattie (a Unitarian), and Carter (a postmodern cynic). Finally, “The Other Coming to Town” scrutinizes the portrayal of the Chhung family as an intruding other and the potential for a social bond with them, as suggested by Jen. The article concludes with a critique of Jen’s strategy; the author redirects the focus away from the perspectival multiplicity through the binary to the one.