Jane Austen, Game Theorist by Michael Suk-Young Chwe

Chwe argues that Austen isn't merely fodder for game-theoretical analysis, but an unacknowledged founder of the discipline itself: a kind of Empire-waisted version of the mathematician and cold war thinker John von Neumann, ruthlessly breaking down the stratagems of 18th-century social warfare.'-Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times ' convincing case for how mathematical models and fictional narratives can work towards reciprocal illustration.'-Jonathan Sachs, Times Literary Supplement 'This is insightful literary analysis at its most accessible and enjoyable.'-Kate Hutchings, Huffington Post Books 'Jane Austen, Game Theorist should join the list of strategic classics like The Art of War. is more than the larky scholarly equivalent of 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.'. Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 9780691155760 Number of pages: 288 Weight: 539 g Dimensions: 235 x 152 x 28 mm MEDIA REVIEWS Jane Austen, Game Theorist brings together the study of literature and social science in an original and surprising way.

He considers how Austen in particular analyzed 'cluelessness'-the conspicuous absence of strategic thinking-and how her sharp observations apply to a variety of situations, including U.S. Chwe makes the case that these literary forebears are game theory's true scientific predecessors. Although game theory's mathematical development began in the Cold War 1950s, Chwe finds that game theory has earlier subversive historical roots in Austen's novels and in 'folk game theory' traditions, including African American folktales. With a diverse range of literature and folktales, this book illustrates the wide relevance of game theory and how, fundamentally, we are all strategic thinkers. Jane Austen, Game Theorist shows how this beloved writer theorized choice and preferences, prized strategic thinking, argued that jointly strategizing with a partner is the surest foundation for intimacy, and analyzed why superiors are often strategically clueless about inferiors. But as Michael Chwe reveals in his insightful new book, Jane Austen explored game theory's core ideas in her six novels roughly two hundred years ago. Game theory-the study of how people make choices while interacting with others-is one of the most popular technical approaches in social science today.

Jane Austen, Game Theorist by Michael Suk-Young Chwe