Maksimalistinen aivokartta. Metafyysinen salapoliisikertomus Jaakko Yli-Juonikkaan Neuromaanin tiedollisena työkaluna
Abstract
A Maximalist Map of the Brain. The Metaphysical Detective Story as a Cognitive Tool for Jaakko YliJuonikas’ Neuromaani.
The contemporary encyclopedic novel is a maximalist narrative form that is based on the excess of information. In this article I hold Jaakko YliJuonikas’ Neuromaani (2012) as its ambassador. This as a starting point, the article focuses on arguing that the genre of the metaphysical detective story is a key cognitive tool for the reading of YliJuonikas’ encyclopedic novel. The encyclopedic novel describes not only a storage of information but also a process of coming to know, whereupon the reader either follows a surrogate reader (that is, the detective), or has to arrange the data inde pendently. As regards Neuromaani, the first of these options is problematic, since the protagonist has a multiple personality disorder, and the reader follows his hallucinations inside the brain. Simultaneously, the reader is encouraged to investigate the crime that has taken place outside the protagonist’s mind. Along with the structure of the brain, Neuromaani is arranged in the forms of a dissertation and a gamebook. It is an ergodic novel that reserves an active role for the reader. But as I argue, the metaphysical detective story plays a leading role: Neuromaani exploits conventions such as a laby rinthine space of investigation, an unsolvable crime, and an excessive number of clues. Moreover, the reader begins the reading as a detective, but becomes a criminal.
